Overcoming Giants

Two big things happened last week! 🤩

1️⃣ Audrey received a 75% tuition scholarship from the competition she entered!!! 🎉 Praise the Lord!! With over 100 students attending the competition, she was 1 of the 24 granted a scholarship! We are so happy for her. She also found out she got into the Honors Program as well, which gives an additional $4000 a year. So thankful. 

She has a personal goal to come out of her college experience debt free. Even with the scholarships, there’s a good bit of finances she still needs for Asbury. Without her green card finalized there’s some hindrances for applying for other grants and scholarships. We’ve been waiting since January 2019 for this to be finalized. We are hoping any day to receive her green card in the mail. Please pray with us. 

2️⃣ WE MOVED! 🏡 After all this time of waiting and praying for God to provide a home for us, He did it! God made a way for us to move into a home on the main YWAM Tyler campus. Not only were we able to move in, but the funds we had been given last summer for housing enabled us to do some needed renovations on the home. It was so fun (and a bit stressful at times) deciding on flooring, countertops, and sink faucets.

What a blessing. I find myself overwhelmed every day with gratitude. I look around and just keep thanking the Lord for this blessing. Unboxing our things that had been in storage for the last ten months has brought a deep sigh of relief for me. We are finally settled. Thank you Jesus. 

With all this great news, one would think I’d be flying high with joy, and I have been. But I have to be honest, I’ve felt other emotions too. Fear being one of them which has produced some anxious thoughts. Giants always seem to be lurking around the corner, especially ones with $$ dollar signs attached to them, and they fight hard to steal my joy and stir up fear. 

I’m thankful for God’s word. It’s always timely in one way or another. This past week I’ve been learning from the Israelites wilderness wanderings. These words from Deuteronomy 1 burned in my heart when I read them…

“‘We saw giants there’…But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’” (verses 28-31)

Our Father HAS cared for us all along the way so beautifully. Tears well up in my eyes as I think about His faithfulness over the years. When I read Moses’s words early in the morning last week, I cried. I felt convicted for the moments I had doubted and wrestled over fretful thoughts that week. Yet haven’t we seen God time and time again step into our Egypt and rescue us. He has conquered many giants in our journey. It was good to be reminded of that. 

The next verses that follow grabbed my heart too…

“But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.” (verses 32-33)

After all God had done, the Israelites still refused to trust the Lord. Would that be my story too? It’s easy to criticize the Israelites and think how could they do that after all they’d seen God do in Egypt. Yet, I’m like those Israelites too. There are moments that my “outlook effects my uplook”, another convicting phrase I read in the Streams in the Desert last week as well. 

I’m so thankful for God’s gentle nudge to keep my eyes on Him. 

I don’t know what giants you’re facing. We all face them…financial challenges, health concerns, looming deadlines, broken relationships, depression, loneliness. They’re real. When the Israelites said they saw them, they weren’t just figments of their imaginations. They were living, breathing giants that towered over them. In their own strength, it was impossible to conquer them. Yet, God wasn’t asking them to face the giants alone…actually He promises to go ahead of them. The giants were God’s to fight. The Israelites needed to trust the Lord, letting Him handle them in His time and way. But they refused, and as a result they wandered in that wilderness for a very long time. 

“Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.” Deuteronomy 11:22. 

Let’s hold tightly to our Father! He is worthy of our trust!

Thank you for your continued prayers. They have moved mountains and slayed giants in our lives. We are so thankful. And thank you for your financial support which equips us to be missionaries, discipling the next wave of young people at YWAM Tyler. It is critical that this next generation knows Him and steps into their calling to make Him known. 

All for His glory. You are loved dear ones. ❤️

Amy Fish