He Never Asked Us to Move the Rock

I had the amazing privilege (and the blessing of someone paying for me) of going on my first women's retreat last weekend! It was amazing. It was my first time really being out of Vienna for any period of time, except my trip to Germany. We stayed in a little town called Rust (pronounced Roost). It is located right beside the largest lake in Europe. And the home to several storks. Those were pretty cool to see too. I will have pictures up on Facebook for you to take a look at.

Anyways, I had to opportunity to spend time with some very close friends and God, of course :) The speaker was Debby Jones, author of Lady in Waiting. She was a very good speaker, with a warm southern accent.

The last day of the retreat she asked us to close our eyes and think of the one thing that was heavy on our heart while we were there, and listen to the story and see what God was telling us. She proceeded to tell the story of a man that God came to in the middle of the night and told him that he was going to put a stone in front of him and he wanted him to push it. The man obeyed and pushed the stone everyday. After a long period of time he become very sore and aggravated. Satan came along beside him and told him that God didn't care about him or he wouldn't have him do this. The man began to believe these lies and became very unhappy. God came to him again, and the man asked him, why he was having him do this, that he pushed and pushed but couldn't move it. God looked at him and told him that he was proud of him for being obedient, and that he had done a good job, but that he never asked him to MOVE it, just push it, and he would move it!!! At that point I was crying uncontrollably realizing that I WAS trying to move my rock. That was a huge eye opener for me. I came away from the retreat feeling much better than I had going in.

Nick had an amazing opportunity to disciple to his basketball coach tonight. He is reading Angels and Demons and asked Nick if he had read it. It just so happens that Nick just read the book about a month ago. He had several questions for Nick regarding the Christian point of view. He also asked Nick if they could get together soon and talk more about it. Please pray that God may use Nick in the time to bring "Randy" home.

Financial Update:
We are currently at 70%. We still have a long way to go, but we are faithful that the Lord will provide for us what and where we need. If you would be interested in joining our monthly support team please email me at mhighley@vcs-austria.org.

Please pray that the Lord will show us the path he wants us to take.

Pray for us to be patient and just keep pushing the rock.

Thank you for you love, prayers and support

FOR HIM
Nick and Girls

Hello everyone!

We hope that you all are great. We just wanted to give a quick update on our support raising. As of March 25thwe have 69.5% of our needed monthly support. Can I just say, "God is good". We still have quite a ways to go, but we have been very encouraged. Through this process so far, we have hopefully made some new friendships. We have two monthly supporter now, who we went to school with, but haven't talked to in a long time. I have been in contact with both of their wives, and can I just say they are two amazing women. They are willing to financially support us monthly, and they have never met us. That is a total God thing. It really makes me think sometimes how God works in other peoples hearts. Thank you ladies for having amazing hearts!

Nick and I are still up just about every night until 2-3 in the morning, so we can call the States. Some nights are easier than other, but we have a lot of encouragement that comes our way. And amazingly enough, we don't get too cranky with each other. Which, in itself is a miracle. :)
Nick is in the final prep for his missions trip to Romania. I wont get to join him this time, but MAYBE next year. He is very excited about this trip. It will be a lot like the other short term trips that he has taken in the past, especially Jamaica. They will be doing quite a bit of manual labor, along with a fair share of ministry. Please pray that the team is safe throughout the entire trip, and that they may reach the hearts God places in front of them. I will give you more of a description and update when I get it.

We had a rough week last week. We had to deal with a pretty difficult situation with some students that we love. Feelings got hurt and hearts were injured, but I really feel like the Lord has a handle on the situation, and will heal all the hurt in time. Please be praying for these students and their families.

The girls are great! They are pretty tough (just like their mom :)) We have Easter Break in a couple of weeks that they are excited about. Nick will be in Romania, but we will make the most of it. We are actually going to "bird sit" for some friends of ours, and I have told the girls that we could do a little something special with the money that we will get from that, so we'll see.
I think that Ive rambled long enough, so just please keep us in your prayers as far as our support raising goes. I cant wait for the day when I can tell you that we are 100%!! As always, please let us know how we can be praying for you. AND of course if you are interested in supporting us, PLEASE let us know and we will tell you what you need to do. My email address is www.mhighley@vcs-austria.org. NO amount is EVER TOO small.

Thanks for the love and prayer!!
Nick and Girls!!