"The Circle Maker"

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Yesterday we started reading "The Circle Maker" as a family. Considering the road that lies ahead for us, we figured our faith needed encouragment. I started reading this book myself at the beginning of the year. It has done so much to encourage my faith and make me realize that when God gives us dreams and visions, He also is there to answer all the prayers along the way.

We have blogged much this past  few weeks about how God has answered prayers in miraculous ways. More than we ever expected or imagined. Really we should expect or imagine it, it is just that most of time we don't. We should know that God is there for us, but in our humaness it is easier to rely on ourselves. What I am taking from this book more than anything is that God is not our genie in a bottle but someone who is "For Us." He really is for us! Why? Because He loves us!

So last week we moved into a house that has been great for our family. After having an hour long conversation with the homeowner, she decided that we needed to live in her house until she could decide what to do with it. She was transferred to New York city over a year ago and has been trying to make the decision for some time. It will give us an opportunity to save money up for a house in North Miami where we really want to be. Rent here is $1,100 a month and all we needed to do was pay her one month and a small Utility deposit as everything was kept in her name. She let us move in last week without paying any of this up front, but now we have to pay her. We have incurred other expenses this week that were not expected due to having to move our stuff in Fulton that has made coming up with this more difficult. We need to have this money by the end of the weekend. We know that God is able and we are trusting him. We are asking that you would join us in praying for these things today.

Below is a list of things that we need prayer for. Would you join us in making circles around these prayers.

Prayer Requests:

Money for our first months rent, $1,500 in total. This is an immediate need. We need to pay this by end of weekend.

Our belongings in Fulton are being moved from the current storage facility it is in to another smaller facility. Please pray for our family that is helping us with this. Pray God will bless them for their time. Decisions have to be made about what can be left out since it will all not fit. Pray that everything in this way goes smoothly.

Since last October, Jeff has been using our big 15 passenger van to move people locally. It has turned out to be a great beginning business. We are praying about buying a box truck. A 14-17 ft truck so that we can expand and do smaller moves. We could also use this truck to move our stuff from Missouri to Miami. A Uhaul would cost $1500 to get from there to here, we could most likely get a box truck for around $3,000 if we buy it used. It just makes more sense to do it this way. Pray that God gives us wisdom in this and if it be his will that He provide the right truck at the right price.

My work has been really slow right now, Pray that it picks up. The girls and I have also been cleaning houses on the side. Pray that more jobs will come.

Hannah and Rachael are both auditioning for New World School of the Arts. They both have danced for quite some time and would cherish this opportunity to get into this school. It will be the first time that any of our kids have attended school outside of the home. Pray that God will give us wisdom if this is what the next step is for them. Pray that their audition goes well. For the last 10 years we have paid for them to take dance. This would be amazing instruction that would not cost us anything, but we want God's will in it for them.

Pray that we will be able to continue to work steadily and that we will be able to save up the money needed to get into the right house when it is time for us to move out of here.

Lastly, Pray for Joel. Joel has been here in Miami since before we came. Pray that God will continue to provide all of his needs. Pray that God would bless him beyond all of his imagination. Joel has been helping Jeff with the moving and has not been taking any money for pay these past few weeks to enable our family to get more stable here. Pray that God would bless this selfless act beyond anything he could ever imagine.