308 – Carrying a Vision – part 1

Without a vision the people perish. Proverbs 29:18

This verse is only quoted in this way in the King James Version. This is how I learned the verse 43 years ago and it has been a bedrock of my faith.

Bedrock (dictionary.com) = the fundamental principles on which something is based.

[to read 25 versions of this verse, or any other verse, google: Proverbs 29:18 Bible Hub.]

Here are a few of the definitions of vision on google.

1- having a vivid mental image &&

2- relating to a dream or a trance, a supernatural experience ^^

3- the act or power of anticipating what will come or may come to be++

4- the ability to think about and plan for the future using intelligence and imagination **

5- someone’s idea or hope of how something should be done or how it will be in the future. **

 

&& Google dictionary

^^  Google dictionary

++ dictionary.com

**online Macmillan Dictionary

To me, ‘without a vision the people perish’, means that my faith stays alive, it thrives, when I am pursuing the Lord with an idea in my mind which I believe is from Him. Having a vision brings purpose to my days because rather than be confined to merely the tasks at hand in the multitudinous days of bleak and boring daily life, I have a mysterious side issue.

When we became engaged, Dan and I agreed to give our family planning to God. It was #4 type of vision. We sat on my back porch steps and thought and planned for the future, and we agreed that since I was already in my early thirties and since we had no goal but to serve God, we thought it wise to put this important topic in His hands and trust Him. By the time we celebrated our 6^th wedding anniversary we had a 1 month old newborn, and our other sons had just turned 2,4, and 5.

When we became engaged in May, I had already been accepted to begin Bible School in September in England. Rather than cancel, Dan decided to join up with my vision to study for more in depth Bible knowledge . We followed the vision through the weeks of our engagement and actively pursued our goal of Dan getting accepted at the school also. We were re-routed to their school in Germany and the registrar requested his paperwork and a payment as soon as possible. We spent five months of the first half year of our marriage in a foreign country in an English-speaking Bible School. This again was #4

In Bible School in Germany we caught school’s vision to go out into all the world to share the gospel. As a new Christian I had been interested in going to Africa. But since Dan had recently been to Japan he was very interested in taking his new faith to the Japanese people. We prayed, put out a fleece, and received the vision to visit several missionaries in Japan. The Lord provided the funds and Dan took time off work. Our son Tim turned one year old in ___ and I was pregnant with our son Steve. We spent 6 weeks in Japan.

To be continued…