Good health is a beautiful thing, often taken for granted until it’s compromised…and oh did I take mine for granted! I have never been more sick in my adult life than in the last month. The entire week before I left for training camp I was very sick with a horrible stomach virus. I did no support raising that week and I also lost hours at work and had to pay for a doctor’s visit and medicine. It was a huge waste of time and money. Cue small internal freak-out. I lost so much time I could have spent with friends before I move away from Vegas. I was also concerned because I was at $5400 in my support raising, and once I got back from camp I would only have 4 weeks to reach the July goal of $10,000. I have to reach this goal in order to launch with my squad in August.
A day or so before I left for training camp I felt a pretty solid 85% back to normal. At camp I was able to focus, learn a ton, and be engaged with my squad and leadership. I kept my phone off almost the whole time at camp, but one night I turned it on and checked my e-mail. I was astonished to see that several gifts had processed to my account while I was at camp (some were a totally surprise!) These gifts put me at about $9000. Wow!
Fast forward, training camp ended over a week ago and I flew back to Vegas. I must have caught something at camp or on the plane. I thought the week BEFORE camp was bad…oh my goodness, these last 11 days have been the stuff of nightmares. I have a viral cough. Did you know that you can cough every 5-10 minutes for a whole week?? Including sleeping hours! It was the worst. My throat hurt, I could barely eat, my stomach hurt from coughing so much, I was sleep deprived, I missed work. I was barely keeping up with my general life responsibilities and it’s laughable how little I did towards reaching that $10,000 goal. I’m finally on the mend now.
I realized that my carefully laid plans to use my time wisely had been decimated by sickness. But through it all, God has proven Himself (yet again) to be the never-failing Father I can always rely on. He has shown Himself faithful to me through these difficulties.
On top of those unexpected gifts I received while I was away at camp, a few nights after I got back to Vegas I was given a gift of $1500 which put me over the July $10,000 goal….4 weeks early by the way! As if that weren’t enough, this week someone else gave me a gift of $1000 that I wasn’t expecting at all, and several other gifts were given. Once the gifts process to my account, I am within a few hundred dollars of the September deadline to reach $13,000! Whaaat?! I am amazed at the people who have joined my support team. They each have such a love for God and commitment to missions. Now I have way MORE than I need for the July goal and in fact I am basically at the September goal already!
Also, besides reaching these deadlines early, I’ve spent more meaningful time with friends this past week than I think I would have otherwise since I’m not hyper-focused on the won’t-launch-unless-you-meet-the-$10,000-goal because it’s already behind me. I’ve been truly present and enjoying the precious little time I have with these loved ones, instead of having deadlines and support raising on the back of my mind.
On my own, I’ve made practically no forward movement in support raising in the last 4 weeks due to sickness and training camp, but God did it. He was on the move, especially in my weakness. Over $7000 of support for this mission trip came in either while I’ve been so sick I could barely function, or while I was immersed in preparation at training camp. God has taught me (for the millionth time) that His plans are better than mine, and in fact much more efficient.
I have chosen to trust in God and let Him lead me. What about you? What or who are you trusting in?
God wants to be in relationship with you, a real-deep-in-your-soul connection. He can’t help Himself, He loves you a ton, and when you love someone you want to be with them. However, He is a gentleman and He won’t force you to love Him back. If you do open your heart and life to God, you begin the most amazing relationship with the best Friend, Father, and Helper ever. He promises to never leave you or forsake you, not in good times or bad, not in sickness or failures. Not ever.
If you haven’t decided if God is even real or not, another question to ask might be “Do I have intellectual, emotional, or volitional objections to God?” What I mean is, are there issues (such as the problem of evil) that you intellectually can’t sort out right now? Perhaps there are emotional roadblocks, like bad experiences with Christians. Or are your objections volitional, a decision of your will? Do you have objections to God based on things like not wanting “Christian morality” to hinder your lifestyle? Tough to think about, but important to consider.
For me, there is too much evidence (personally, historically, and scientifically) that God is real and He loves me. How amazing is it that He would help me reach my July and even my September deadline early, while I’ve been so sick I was barely functioning? That’s revelation of His character. Not that He is some cosmic ATM machine, but that He has compassion for us and truly desires to be a strong tower for us, if we let Him. And this provision also shows me His unyielding commitment to seeking out and finding those who don’t know Him, and letting a girl like me join in on His grand plan to draw people to Him.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3
Blessings,
Elaine
