When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave 
us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
Now many of us know the rest of this story about how the Lord created a way for the people of Israel to walk through the Red Sea on dry land and the sea crashed behind them on the Egyptians. What a miracle that was! What I want to focus on however is the people’s attitudes before this miracle took place. Can you imagine gaining freedom, only to have the person who gave you freedom change their mind and want to kill you? And then to make it worse the Lord led you to this place to be between a sea and an army! It’d be hard to think that the Lord wanted you to have freedom or wanted you to live. The Lord had other plans however; not only did he want the people of Israel to realize that He would be there for Him but He wanted all of the Egyptians to know that He was Lord.
These moments in life where you feel as though God has left you to die, where you wonder if He still cares, where you wonder if you’ve followed the path that He has laid before you have been affectionately termed as “Red Sea Moments.” Often times we begin to wonder what God has in store, what it is that He’s doing, or even if He remembers us at all, but I would want to encourage you that the Lord is faithful and knows your plights. He doesn’t ignore us and He doesn’t let us suffer without a reason. He is an all knowing, all powerful God and knows what He’s doing at all times. We may not be able to understand what the Lord is doing at the time but have faith that a miracle will happen, that your Red Sea will be parted.
So by this point you’re probably wondering what this has to do what Nate and myself are going through. Well, in these past couple of months we’ve been able to look at Scripture, continue praying and seeking guidance, and more than ever we’ve felt that we’re supposed to go. The Lord has laid it on our hearts to go and serve Him and that’s exactly what we plan to do. Yes, it is close to three months past the time we were scheduled to go but how can we not praise God? Do we know better than the Lord when we should be going? Both Nate and I have faith that the Lord is in control and we will continue to wait on Him.
We want to thank those of you who have remembered us in your prayers, the prayers have strengthened us as the Lord continues to give us strength and hope in Him. We would ask for continued prayers as our visa applications continue to be looked over and that we would be approved to go in the Lord’s timing.
We would also ask for prayer as Nate’s family has begun the moving process and are continuing to figure out other details. Praise God Nate was able to be here to help his family as the make this adjustment! I have gone back home to Kalispell, MT and plan on staying here until we hear positive words on our visas. I will be working temporary jobs around the area as well as getting involved with some ministries that my home church has established in the community.
The Lord has a plan and we continue to praise Him for that. We look forward to going to Brazil, knowing in full confidence that the Lord is working in His own time. God bless your day and please remember that in your own Red Sea moments God is always in control.
Jon Nelson and Nate Olson
