It's always been really easy for me to abandon hope. One little thing goes wrong and I'm just like "ALL HOPE IS LOST! ABANDON SHIP! THIS IS THE END!" Not a very good way to live life. I've gotten much better about that recently. I've sorta been able to see it coming and think "Abandoning hope is stupid dude, God's got this!" Whatever the situation may be, I know that God has a plan, and that even if it's not the same as my plan, His plan is better and He's got my back. So there is no reason to ever lose hope.
So check this out. Last week I was sitting around freaking out about my upcoming deadline, and I was starting to lose hope hard. Then I went to Connecticut and met up with my squadmates Amanda Brescia, Mike Spegal, and Sarette Stahnke. They really encouraged me and made me feel a lot better, and when I said "It would be a huge encouragement if you guy's could come with me to this church I'm speaking at tomorrow." they were like "WHEN DO WE LEAVE?!" So my awesome squadmates and I drive back to Boston, sleep on a cold hard floor, and go to this church I've never been to before. We get to the location the GPS brought us to, and we can't find the church. So obviously I start freaking out a little bit and I say "Guys maybe God doesn't want me to go to this church…" BOY was I WRONG. As soon as I said that, we found the church. We got the warmest welcome from the people at Empowerment Christian Church in Dorchester, MA. Everyone was super nice, and incredibly genuine. I don't think I've ever gotten that many hugs in one sitting! hahaha ANYWAY! I went up to give my testimony and play my song and the whole congregation was genuinely moved by my story. After that they prayed for my squadmates and I, and we could just feel the power of their prayer, and felt really blessed and loved by them. And at the end I even got to play with the band and lead the church in worship for a song, which was a really powerful moment. Here's a little snippet of that:
So needless to say, God DID want me to go to that church, and He TOTALLY showed up! At the end of this amazing experience, I walked out of that church not only feeling incredibly blessed by the people, but I received $400 in donations from the offering they did for me! And since then, it seems like everyday a little more money comes in as a donation to my account. Over the course of this week I've gotten around $800 in donations! Slowly but surely, my support amount is going up and it's so awesome to see that happen! Jehova-Jireh is PROVIDING!!!!
It's kinda like God is saying "OH you're worried about MONEY little buddy?"
"SILLY BOY! Money is nothing to ME!!! I got this taken care of! I have a plan for you and its BETTER than yours! I'm doing this in MY time, not YOURS! So if you'll please stop freaking out, I'll take care of it!" and He has been taking care of it, so I will not lose hope!
Today is the day of my second deadline. I should have at least $6,500 in my account right now, but officially it sits at $5,766. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that I cannot launch in September, but it does mean I need to raise the rest of the $6,500 as fast as possible. So I ask that you would prayerfully consider supporting me. Anything you could give me would help! Little by little God is providing for this trip! Please help me shine a light in the darkest places of this world, and love on people who so desperately need to be loved! Would you be a part of this journey with me? Would you send me?
