It’s a little after 8:00am on a Tuesday.  A muffled voice in the distance breaks the steely silence.  The bruised sky outside my window will soon yield another downpour.  Many questions fill my mind and heart as we wait and watch what will transpire in the coming days.

Later this week I was supposed to be on my way to a mission conference in Los Angeles.  If I can be transparent with you, I didn’t have a ton of peace about going on this trip.  In the midst of asking the Father for His wisdom in regards to whether I should stay or if I should go, the decision was made for me.  The university where this conference was to be held let us know late last week that they would no longer be able to host us or any other organization.

A mixture of disappointment, relief and perplexity surrounds me.  Like you, many more questions fill my mind and heart about what is to come. As of today, I am grounded.

Last fall, our team was truly bewildered about why we had such a low internship turnout.  In addition to not having many fields who were able to take interns this summer, we also didn’t have the same volume of applicants.  I remember sitting in this same chair wondering out loud what God was doing and whether or not I was missing something.  Little did we know all that was going to develop with the coronavirus and the ways the Father was protecting us.

In my devotions last week I found myself in Genesis 28 – the account where God changes Jacob’s name to Israel.  As I read over this familiar story, I found myself drawn once again to the complexity of Israel’s name in Hebrew.  As you may know, the name Israel has a variety of meanings.  It can be translated, “One who contends with God”, “One who holds on to God” or “One who wrestles with God.”  As I was processing the nuances of each of these meanings, the Father gently reminded me how any one of these mindsets could be the attitude I choose during this season of uncertainty.

I could be the one who contends with God and is disgruntled by the ambiguity and uncertainty that lies ahead.

OR

I could be the one who hold onto God despite the ambiguity, uncertainty and all that lies ahead.
In the coming days, there will be many difficult decisions ahead of us—whether or not we should suspend our summer internship program, whether or not we should move forward with our annual Discovery event and how to do recruitment without traveling.

My guess is that you, too, have many questions, concerns and trepidations on your heart.
How can our family pray for you as you pray for us?  Please send me an email or text to share your needs and requests.

Prayer Requests:

• • Ask God to use this time of uncertainty to draw many men and women to Jesus.
  • Ask the Lord to instill within us a boldness to walk faithfully as we trust Him each step.
  • Ask the Father to give us wisdom as we navigate tough decisions about the summer, future travel and the myriad of other decisions coming our way.
  • Ask God to remove all fear and trepidation about losing support during this season.  God has been so faithful to us week after week.  Pray that we will hold onto the LORD as we seek His daily bread.

Praises: 

• • We received an application for a new recruiter last week!
  • There is a gentleman who met with our CFO about joining our finance team.
  • We have had 5 people join our team in 2020 and another 40 who are in the application process!
  • God is still on the throne reigning in His sovereignty.
  • Our team is working on a fun idea for how to do recruitment through Facebook Live.  We are trying to take what seems like an obstacle and turn it into an opportunity.

Nathan Davenport- Pioneer Bible Translators