God is so amazing!! I still can’t believe all that happened yesterday.
$2620, next day $2620, next day $2620, today still says $2620. Yip that’s the number shown in my account. Nothing wrong with 2620 except that I need 8280 in the account to actually go on the world race, and leave in June….so yeah…spent a lot of time last week working on support. praying, calling people, asking God to provide and its been incredibly frustrating and felt like any effort is in vain….because nothing seems to be changing. By the time Saturday rolled around I started to worry and wonder and question God, are you going to provide, because I really need you to do something. I literally need about $1000 per week to be able to leave in June. So I’m offically worried about the money.
Then came Sunday. I walked out of church crying over God’s faithfulness to provide. Twice.
Went to church …and by the end of the meet and greet I’d been promised $600 for the world race, from people I’d talk to the week earlier. I was just awestruck by God providing….He reminded me again that He was in control and would take care of me. Now, I’d be able to pass that pesky $3000 mark. And then Pastor Greg starts talking…about money and trusting God. I immeadiately had the sense that this was exactly for me. And that I needed to go up front and ask for prayer after he was done preaching. And well, that’s not too common in my church and I knew that if I went up, I’d most likely start crying or something emotional and the whole church would see. Not feeling comfortable about this. So I said “no” and the Spirit said “Go” and I said “no” and the Spirit said “I already told you what to do”…so I went …and sure enough started to cry when Pastor prayed over me and Shannon sneaks up from behind and gives me a hug, then tells me not to worry about the money, I will go and God will provide. So now I’m crying and the whole church sees. Wishing everyone from training camp was in the room because there’d be at least 10 others crying. Maybe the Lord wanted them to see me cry. Raising money is not easy or fun or comfortable. Its a real struggle. A battle to keep believing, to trust God and stretch my faith.
Church #2
Went to Liberty that evening …a nearby multi-cultural church that I love..I’ve been visiting there randomly since January…last time I went was over a month ago. So at the end of the service they always ask that you pray with/for the person next to you. I talk to Soledad and she is thankful that her husband recently got a job as a truck driver and prays that many of their friends would get jobs. And I tell her about money for the World Race. She begins to pray for me, that people would give, and then just abruptly stops. So I pick up and start praying for her requests and then she ends with praying for me. Tell her a little more about the world race because she seems very interested…give her my blog and email. She looks at me and says “I’m going to support you” as she pick up her check book and starts writing. Without hesistation. And I have never met this lady before in my life! She non-chalantly explains that because they don’t have children, she can just give to others. I am speechless. And I start crying when I realize that she is actually writing me a check. I was overwhelmed, and humbled, watching this work of God unfold. The amount is $500. and I cry even more, say Thanks and she quietly slips out.
Now that I am crying, leaving the church inconspicuously is out of the question. A greeter asks me if I’m ok. I tell her I need a hug, embraced her with more force than she expected, and tell her that God just blessed me more than I ever expected. Not long after, the associate pastor, David walks up and I tell him how this woman just gave me a lot of money for the trip. Ends up David used to work with AIM…I wish I could remember his last name. So David is in front of me, the greeter to my right and he calls this random girl, about my age passing by. They’re gonna pray for me. For the money to come. They lay hands on me, and he firmly puts his hand on my head, grasping it as though it were a basketball and just starts praying with authority. After he prays, the girl on my left says…here’s my tithe…I was gonna give it to the church..and double checks with David to give it to me. David then tells me our God is a God of miracles…big ones and little ones like I just witnessed…and proceeds to give me money from his “God pocket”-an idea he said he got from Bruce Wilkinson, that just have some money on you in your “God pocket” to give to random people like me when you sense the Spirit’s leading.
I leave the church and just sit in the parking lot for a few minutes..trying to make sense of everything that just happened. I was given over $600 in the last 15 minutes. So excited about the Lord’s provision, so awed by Him and how He works. So excited. Did that really just happen? I should call a teammate…but wait till I stop crying..I might be hard to understand.
Now, several hours later, I’m still wowed by the whole experience.
And thinking about Soledad and her faith and obedience to the Lord. She was obviously sensitive to the Spirit’s leading…she could have prayed and left…or prayed and given me $10, but she gave me $500. That’s a lot! In case you were wondering…especially considering I never met her and didn’t ask her for money either…just told her of my need. And she was very intentional, without hesistation.
Praise the Lord! Its funny how if the money had come when I wanted it to, in a way I expected, that leaves no room for God’s surpises like this. I hope this story is encouraging to all of you who are raising support now. And a good reminder for me in the future.
