WOW! What once was a distant dream is now becoming a reality! In just two days, I will be heading to pre-launch for my Beauty for Ashes Coordinator training and more team building and preparations before we hit the landing strip in our first country, Peru!
I haven’t written in about two weeks or so due to the fact that life has been whirling around me and I think I am beginning to get my grips back on it.
This past month has been something. The enemy tried to attack me in multiple ways, I felt and did things I wished I hadn’t. I had three speaking engagements, made the front page of my community newspaper, and had a pretty awesome bake sale that lasted a week and helped bridge a gap from being $3,000 short to now only being $441 short of my now past due goal of $10,000. Oh, and two people donated $1,000 each and I gained another monthly donor! God has been good despite the struggles I have faced in this period of trusting and waiting.
For a moment, I was not sure if I was going to actually make it to launch since I was so far from my goal, but God is faithful as always and He always makes a way when there doesn’t seem to be one in sight. All I had to hold on to was my faith in what God had already spoke to me. I know He is not a man that He should lie. I know that where He guides, He provides. I know that He is a way maker. I know that He will always come through, so I trust Him even when things don’t look like I want them to.
As reality is beginning to really set in, I have been finding myself becoming a ball of emotions. I have been trying to analyze the root of them all, but I can’t seem to put my finger on it completely.
Every aspect of my life is getting ready to shift all at once. The way I eat, sleep, shower, use the restroom, communicate, and dress. I will no longer be able to just fly or drive home to visit my friends and family when I miss them. I won’t be able to even call when I feel like they are the ones I want to lean on the most. I could potentially be sleeping in a tent for 11 months (I can feel my back aching now lol). I will be stepping out of every comfort zone I have ever known to step into the unknown.
Don’t get me wrong, I am super stoked for this opportunity, but I have to evaluate all the feelings and realities that come along with it as well, so I can prepare mentally. I truly do believe for the many reasons stated above, but also including the fact that I will be impacting the lives of others while they impact mine and seeing a vast variety of the beautiful world God offers to us, this will be one of the greatest times of my life. I am ready to embark on the journey that God has set before me.
I want to take time to thank everyone that has played a part in this moment for me whether it be good or bad. I want to thank everyone that told me I had a purpose, everyone that pointed me towards God, everyone that prayed for or over and even the ones that preyed on me, everyone that sowed into the mission or in my life in general whether it be time, love, prayers, or finances. Thank you! You have changed my life and made it possible for me to walk in my purpose, you have no clue the gratitude I feel for you!
There is so much left to do in the next two days, say my see you laters, pack this one backpack for a years worth of life (pray for me), get last-minute items, and finish my studies (yes we have to do homework for the race, this is no ordinary mission trip). So, I am going to get off of here, for now, I will do my best to keep you all updated! Thank you for joining the journey with me and thank you for helping to send me!
One last thing, I am still short $441 for my $10k goal which was due September 20th and my next goal is to reach $13k by the end of November, so I need to raise a total of $3,441 in the next 60 days. For the month of October, I will be focusing on my Keys for the Journey fundraiser, which is super awesome! You can get a handmade printed Key with a country, word, or scritpture of your choice to aid you in your journey we call life! You could also so what I think is super awesome and get a prophetic word on your key. Which is allowing the team creating the keys to pray for a word from God for you, to be put on your key. I love hearing from the Father and it is amazing to see what He wants to speak to us, so I’d say go for it!
The website to purchase the keys is www.keysforthejourney.com, be sure to select Alycia Mathis when they ask who you would like to support! Thank you in Advance for your help!
You can also donate by clicking “Donate” at the top of this page, Cash App: $AlyciaMathis, or Venmo: @Alycia-Mathis
May God bless you for your kindness and generosity!
