Living Grace Foursquare

Welcome

Have you ever considered faith? Have you really thought about faith, what it is, and what it means to have faith in our everyday lives?
We talk about it in church, but where and when to have faith?
Do we only apply faith in a situation where we see no way it will work out?
Or when we see no way a situation will work out if it can work out?

You all know that we just came back from a trip to Panama. Well, let me give you a little background on this trip and some of what I did this year as I prepared.
I am sure you are wondering why I am dressed like this today, and I will make it clear in a few minutes.
But really, I want to know why PR is dressed that way.
First, we usually begin planning this trip a year in advance. In fact, we evaluate locations and objectives even before we leave from the previous trip.
So, we start in August or September for the following year.
Well, as you all know, my planning schedule was significantly interrupted on January 23, 2024, when my parents were in a major accident.
At first, I thought nothing about the planning and strategy that was not getting done, but I often prayed about what was to come this year.
The Lord clearly told me that we were to go and were to leave the details to him to work out.
So, to be honest with you, I forgot what needed to be done for the trip and concentrated on what needed to be done for my family.
And then April and May came, and nothing was in place; nothing had been dealt with. I did not even have a confirmed team at that moment.
So, being the person I am, I told Ugo, man, it may be only me and you this year because I have not done anything to plan or prepare for the trip.
I usually take some items to Foursquare Connection to transport them back to Panama for our team at Foursquare Connection.
But I did not do that because I went straight from my parents in Utah to Foursquare Connection in Washington, DC.
But I did pray and ask God what I was to do. God stirred my heart, and the message was that you are still going with a team to do a medical clinic.

And that started the argument, but HOW?
Have you ever argued with God? I often say we would all be much better off if God did it my way. Well, I think that, but I soon come to my senses.
I'm just kidding. But seriously, I was arguing about how he would accomplish this since I was so far behind.
And I am sure there was laughter in heaven when I asked how it would be done since I had done nothing to prepare.

God asked me if I could trust Him and if I would have faith that He could accomplish this.
Of course, I do, but I have not done anything to prepare for the journey.It was clear that God's stirring in my heart said I had. So, I came home from Foursquare Connection six weeks before departure, and God gathered a small but dynamic team. That team turned into this team.

Photo of teams

And then came the finances. God, I need finances like I was giving God a revelation.
The team you have assembled does not have the money to do this. We also need the finances for the medicines required for the clinics to operate successfully.
He reminded me that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and we do not have, because we did not ask Him.
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:2-3

So, I asked him to provide, and he told me to share the need with all of you. The financial need was immediately met.

Jose share

WOW, God, you are so good. God was continuing to show himself faithful; I was being faithless.

Share the story of the packing party.
No permission letters
No Dr. permission for Ugo
No Panamanian Dr.
Change in Government
Change in mission plan
Small clinic option and food distribution.

I decided we were not going to take a chance on the meds, and I put 90% in my closet; I figured we would just use them next year when things were more under my control and we had all the issues worked out.
You will notice I said I decided it is a dangerous place to be when I act based on faith in me and not faith in the Lord.
God spoke a final time to my heart about whether or not to open a medical clinic as we packed our bags.
God said I have this. Will you trust me in faith, though everything around you says no?
But Lord, we do not have permission. We need the proper documentation to get the meds in and permission to do the clinic.

All I have is a letter saying the leftover meds will be donated to the Ngobe Bugle people upon clinic completion, which we do not have permission to have.

I thought we could smuggle in the meds. But then I realized we had 3 of us and were not going to smuggle in anything that was this size.
Photo of Bags.

God said WHO will you have trust in me or your abilities. Will you have faith in Marisol or National Leader Pastor Humberto, or even in your ability to smuggle in the meds to do what you want?
Or will you trust and have faith in me?

But God, this is a lot of money donated for the meds. Do I take a chance on this? YES, it is not chance when I direct you.

So, through a series of events, including a shutdown of Global airline computers shutting down at just the time we were processing through McCarren, Heathrow and Panama airports. To arrive in Panama into customs.

Remember, we have 3 people, 12 bags, no permission to enter a medical clinic, and there we are. We throw the bags on the customs belt in Panama and stack them back on the cart.

And then here he comes, an agriculture guy. He asks why we had so much food in this giant duffle bag.
I responded that there was no food in that bag, and he said yes, there is.
Bring that bag over here and open it up.
Of course, we comply with the request, leaving all the other bags across the room. He opened the bag, which was full of wooden toy cars that we had decided at the last minute to throw in since we had some poundage left in the bags. I assume they triggered the agriculture guy since they are made of wood—about 150 of these cars and five or six bottles of children's vitamins.

Photo of the car

Well, he takes out the car and asks what these are for; I reply that they are for us to give away to the Ngobe kids as we minister in the various areas of Bocas de Toro where we will be visiting.
Remember, 5 or 6 bottles of children’s vitamins are in the bag. This is a perfect explanation since there are vitamins and kids' cars.

He has been playing with the car for the 10 minutes he has spoken to me.
I think he said something like these are fun or cute. I'm not sure I was not listening to him then as we all watched the customs officer playing with a car in amazement.

I remember him asking if we had more medicine in the other bags over there, and I thought OH NO, but I must answer truthfully, so I replied yes, we have a lot.
I figured he would be asking to open them up next. Jose has been listening and said now would be a good time to pull out the letter we have. That meant nothing, by the way, but it is worth the shot.

We did, and he said OK, asked someone to make a copy, and sent us on our way.
Of course, we picked up everything as fast as we could at that moment, and we were out the door.

There were a whole lot of other things in clinics and transportation, and even the National Leader of Panama’s mother died. We had the opportunity to go to the funeral representing the Foursquare US to Foursquare Panama and connect with the leaders I have known for more than twenty years in Panama.

Josie Share

I have so much more to share, but I want you to understand this point.

1. Faith is not based on me and what I do.
2. Faith requires me to be blind to what I see and hear that contradicts the word of the Lord.
So now let me explain to you why I am dressed this way and what this is all about. Well, first, this is what we look like in the clinic.

What is this called?
A Stethoscope! Right
What is it for?
To drown out all the noise.
To focus all your hearing on something you want to hear clearly.
To amplify sound so that even the faintest sound, like a breath or blood moving through your veins, can be heard.

I should have used this application of faith but did not. Everything in the world told me no, everything in my rational thought told me no, and nothing except for the Lord was affirming what I knew in my heart we had been directed to do.

I was basing all my decisions on what I knew, But God was showing me a new thing.

I was basing all my decisions on the news I was hearing from Panama and my leadership; they were also receiving the same message from the Lord but waiting on me.
They wanted to avoid forcing me to decide according to their direction. When I texted them and said we were packing up the entire clinic and coming with it, everyone rejoiced since they were hearing the same message from the Lord.

When they shared the same message with me, it explicitly confirmed what the Lord told us all to do.

Ultimately, I abandoned everything else and listened to the Lord through the Stethoscope.

3. Faith requires me to be attentive and listen to what the Lord tells me.
4. Faith requires me not to know precisely the outcome but to trust that the Lord has the situation or issue.
5. Faith requires me not to be in control

I know all these things, but it is hard to yield my intellect, will and knowledge to the Lord sometimes when everything around me screams no.
But the Lord many times asks us to carry out his plans and purposes with reckless abandon.

When it all makes no sense, are we willing to trust and have faith in our Lord?
I will continue to try more and more each day to yield my plans and purposes to the Lord, especially when it is clear he is directing things. I will work with all my might to relinquish my own will and have that faith, even the faith of a mustard seed, that will allow us to move mountains.
We got all the permissions needed for our trip, so we were not going rogue. But they came 12 hours after we arrived.

I want to tell you about the one if I have time!!