“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter–
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail”
-Isaiah 58:7-11
Friends, I am at a loss for words right now. The way the Lord has blessed and provided for me in the past 10 days has literally left me speechless. Ten days ago I started this blog. Ten days ago I had $150 in my World Race account. Today, I have nearly $2,000.
The
Lord
is
GOOD.
I feel like I have so much that I want to say about these past ten days, but few words seem ample enough to describe the glorious riches of which I have partaken.
Before I go any further, let me tell you a little bit about my roommate. Her name is Patricia, and she is getting married in 19 days. Her fiance is training to be a Navy Seal, so in 19 days she will be moving across the country and starting a new life with him. Patricia is a recent college grad, just like myself, which also means that she is broke (like most college grads are). She is starting a new life, in a new city, with very little financially to fall back on. And despite all of this, despite having her own future to worry about, Patricia chose to give, give abundantly, to me and the work the Lord is choosing to do through me.
Most of you know that in this process of deciding to commit the next year of my life to the World Race, I have also committed to sell or give away most of my possessions in the process. The way I see it, I can’t ask people to give to me out of their surplus if I am only willing to give out of my scraps. This life of abandonment has called me higher…moved me to exchange the question of “how much can I spare?” for the question of “how much will it take?” What I didn’t expect was for other people, especially my college friends who are just as poor as I am, to begin exchanging these questions as well.
On Monday, Patricia called me and told me she was going to sell her stuff…and give the money to me. I was floored. For me, it makes sense to sell all my stuff. I am leaving for a year and won’t need it; plus, like I said before, I couldn’t very well give out of my scraps while I asked others to give out of their surplus. But for Patricia, it was simply giving. Giving out of faith and trust in a God who can and will meet all her needs.
So, on Friday, Patricia and I sat out our belongings on her driveway, put out 3 signs, and waited. For about 5 seconds. And then, from 7 o’clock on, we had the most steady stream of people I had ever seen at a garage sale. By the time 1 o’clock rolled around, we were left with 2 boxes of stuff and $500 in cash.
I can’t even begin to tell you how blessed I was by this sale. Not only did the Lord multiply our dollars and cents (most things sold for $1 or less), he provided opportunities for spiritual conversations with several people that “happened” upon our sale. As hard as it was seeing some of my most precious possessions being carried away by strangers, I cannot begin to express the glorious freedom it released inside of me to be free of the bondage of “stuff.” And as I sat next to Patricia in the heat, her possessions being carried away right alongside mine, with no personal benefit to herself, I couldn’t help but praise the Lord for such selfless giving, and beseech Him to raise up a generation of givers such as herself within the Church today.
Saturday, the Lord added doubly to what had been given to me on Friday. My extended family showered me with donations to the World Race in honor of my graduation. I will say it again…
The
Lord
is
GOOD.
Although I shouldn’t be, I am amazed at what God can do in 10 days. To those of you who have so selflessly given, THANK YOU. Because of your generosity and obedience to the Lord, I am 1/7th of the way to being fully funded.
I wish I had more eloquent words to express how truly thankful and blessed I am by all of you. But since I don’t, I pray that this promise of blessing will ring true in your lives:
“He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.”
