Short and sweet

We went to see a friend of ours called Levi. He lives in the mainly Russian speaking area of Latvia but has a significant prayer ministry. We took some clothes and blankets out for him to give out as it is a very poor area. We also decided to take a portion of lamb out to him as a portion for a Levite - it seemed the right thing to do, not quite sure why but I am sure he could make good use of the meat anyway. We also took him a cake from our new bakery here in Ergli, it is great to have a wonderful bakery to be able to take gifts to our friends - well that is our excuse and we are sticking to it.

Sunday night was a rough night full of doubts. Will we sell our house? If not will it be rented out? What are we going to do about employment or at least making a living come March time - the end of our Jubilee Year? There is still money in the bank but it is hard not to be anxious when you read the news and it would be silly to bury our heads in the sand and ignore the what is going on in the world. I know there is a different way coming but what will it look like? Will I miss the signs? As I sat in bed praying in the morning for my children the sun started to stream in through the curtains - a welcome sight in these Northerly hemispheres where it is dark at this time of the year by 4pm. As I opened the curtains I was greeted by the sight of shimmering ice crystals, like a million diamonds falling through the air lit by a shaft of sunlight and I knew that God was in charge. I wrote November 3rd about how in England on a day when I felt the weight of not knowing if we were going to have enough money and taking a walk in the fields behind our house and seeing the snow glittering like diamonds on the ground and suddenly feeling rich, rich because I could see this sight that would be missed while busy working in an office, and rich because I knew that my Provider had it all in hand and indeed he did. What a gracious God we have who sends us the signs that he is in charge not once but often. 

The good news on our house is that there is still another couple interested in it as well so it keeps the pressure up on our buyer to see the purchase through and they are not likely to lose interest or buy somewhere else in the meantime as their son lives next door. Our potential buyer though is going to rent for us for the time being, until the issue he has on the home he is selling is sorted out. Hopefully by the time the rental period is finished we should be able to actually get the house sold one way or another. 

It has been really cold here in Latvia -20C during the night and warming up to -9C during the day but the days have been beautifully clear and we have some good photos which I will share with you soon, I will make an extra post especially to do that. I haven't had much time to write today as I have been writing an essay and it is not flowing very fast but it must be finished by Friday, problem is that we have Mark with us until Wednesday and then we take him to the airport and pick up our friend Ian who will be moving out here permanently in March - he is coming to do some work on the flat we bought for them to live in and we will get back in the early hours of the morning on Thursday. Doesn't leave me much time to write this essay so I have to get moving with that.