Hello to all our dear friends. God is still on the throne and continues to hear and answer our prayers. I could not contain myself from reporting the good news and answered prayers for our children. But let me begin the news by asking a very serious question. How do you think you would feel being separated from your husband or wife and family, from six months to a year, at the mercy of a foreign government, and all this being totally out of your control.
Below, see the great news that we have just learned today Monday Aug. 1st. Our family wants to say a very special thank you for all your prayers for our children. This puts them about half way through the catastrophe they have been living these past several months. With this answered prayer, their family will be together within a week, and they will have time to figure out what the second half of this calamity will look like. We are assuming that our daughter will have to begin a stretch of time away from the family. We don't yet know when that will begin, and how it will work out. But read on for all the good news. First is a quick news flash from our daughter Deb, and a follow up with more in depth news of answered prayer by her husband Giles.
I just wanted you guys to know the quick version of the news.
GILES GOT THE CALL FROM THE CONSULATE…..Visa GRANTED. He goes in tomorrow to pick it up!!!!!!!!!!
The kids will never be in Spain without at least one parent!!!
We'll tell you the cool God story about how it all took place today. God is good….He's big…but he's GOOD, too.
We love you guys. THanks for continually praying and for asking for miracle sized movements.
This morning, I, Giles, was reading Ezekiel 6 and it stuck out to me how four different times in the chapter God says, “Then they will know that I am the Lord.” The people of Israel had turned away from Him and their greatest problem, apparently, was that they had forgotten who was their Lord. I asked the Lord how He wanted me to apply this passage to my life today and I truly felt led to ask Him specifically for our Visa situation. So I got on my knees in my parents’ family room and said, “Lord, please make them approve my Visa this week so that when I go back on August 6, I can just stay in Spain. If you do it this week, Lord, then I could proclaim clearly that it was you who had done it and all would know that you are Lord.” It may seem strange to you, but to be honest, I have not prayed like this very much lately, not nearly as much as I should have. I can tell you why. I have been afraid that in asking I would get too invested in the answer I wanted to get from God. I didn’t want to wind up frustrated with Him that He wasn’t giving me what I asked for when I knew perfectly well that He’s not my personal genie. But this morning He was saying to me so clearly that He wanted me to ask Him for it. I did conclude the prayer saying, “Yet Lord, I don’t know the future like you do, so if you don’t think my request is a good idea, I’ll go with what you have for me. Not my will but yours be done.” And I truly meant it.
That was at 9:30 am this morning, August 1st. At 12:00pm today I Skyped with Debbie and she shared with me how just that morning she had been studying Jesus in the book of Luke and was impressed to see how He was moved with compassion to heal and do miracles in the lives of those who were suffering. She had called out to God and asked Him if His compassion could bring Him to do a miracle in our lives. We prayed together on Skype, and at the end of that prayer I repeated my request to God, as did she.
Then, at 3:00 pm today my parent’s phone rang and the caller ID said “Consulate Gnrl”. My heart leapt within me as I leapt from the chair I was in and snatched up the phone. The nice lady on the other end of the phone said, “Mr. Davis, I’m calling from the Consulate General of Spain to inform you that your VISA HAS BEEN APPROVED and you may come in any day this week to pick it up.” The second I hung up I broke into tears…not just because I finally had my Visa, but also because it was so clear that this was God’s doing. “Then they will know that I am the Lord.” Thank you, Father!! What a joy it is to see you move so clearly!
So now, I will go in tomorrow to pick up my Visa and then this Saturday, August 6, I will fly back to Spain on the ticket I already had, but this time I’m going back to stay there! I won’t have to be separated from my kids any longer! I’ll be able to apply now for a Residence Permit and get my kids’ residence permits renewed as well. As for Debbie, if you remember, we are still waiting to see the results of her appeal regarding her expulsion. Our lawyer said from the start that the appeal was a lost cause, but we are still asking you to pray that once again God will show that He is the Lord by giving success to the appeal. If the appeal fails she will have to come to the States as I did and be separated from the family for three months at a time until her Visa is approved.
Looking back now we can see so clearly how God has used these past three months to bring Himself such great glory. Not only was I able to finish writing a book, but I was also able to be involved with helping my younger brother Tim (35), who has Down’s Syndrome, move into a new group home where he how lives most happily with three other special needs friends and a team of care givers. Then God opened the door for me to return to Spain on July 6 and speak at a camp in Valencia for teens from all over Spain. It was at this camp that we had the joy of praying with one of Micah’s school friends, Dani, who came with him to camp. Dani prayed to receive Christ! It will be a joy, now, to return to Spain and encourage him as he grows in his faith. Upon my return we have family camping planned. A time of reunion and catch up. At the end of the week, our neighbors and best friends, Jose and Loli, will join us at the camp ground with their two sons. Pray with us for Jose to know Jesus too! Loli is praying the same as she lives for Christ daily.
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for our family and our Visa situation. God says in James 4:2 that at times the reason we do not have something is simply because we do not ask for it. Thank you for asking on our behalf! May God bless you richly.
In Christ,
Giles and Debbie and the whole Davis team
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