It is hard for me to fully comprehend how unbelievably faithful and loving our God is. Like, seriously, unbelievably, faithful and loving. How do you put into words the blessings that can only come from Him? The opportunities and people He places in your path, knowing that it was all a part of His divine plan for your life? How do you let those people bless you? How do you even begin to say thanks even though everyone says “Thanks aren’t necessary.” Oh, but they are.
Here is a list of the small blessings that have come my way since Graduating College:
—I have one monthly donor until the end of the year. Which is HUGE. (Shout out to this person, I hope you know who you are).
—Realizing I am halfway to my launch goal of $10,000 with that one monthly supporter and all the other support I’ve gotten thus far (shout out to you ALL).
—God is bringing me to PA for the summer to work and intern at a Nazarene Church and work with Teens and Children, age groups of which I am extremely passionate about.
—Finally, it is in the blessing of my tickets to and from Training Camp, of which, are the main focus of this blog.
Truth: I freak out about money to an unhealthy amount. (Seriously, the amount of freak outs I had this past semester about even making it to the first deadline were a-plenty). I worry I won’t have enough, what if I can’t pay for things? Plane tickets do not come cheap. So naturally, when I got over the deadline for Training Camp, I began to freak out about where I would be flying from and when (because it’s kind of a big deal – in my mind, anyway – when you’re not home for the summer), how I could get the cheapest tickets and pay for them on my own with all the other expenses I still need to be thinking about, etc…?
When I finally knew that PA was a go earlier this week, I began to look at flights from Pittsburg, PA, a couple hours away from Petersburg, where I will be staying. I still have no idea if I will have a ride to the airport, a car to get there, etc (but I know God will provide)… So, today, when I was looking at flights, they looked fairly cheap and I figured buying them cheapest and sooner would be better than buying them for possibly more in two weeks time when I know my schedule a little better (again, it’s a trust thing, right??)… When you see cheap flights from Southwest, you need to pounce on them before flights are filled or the prices go up!!
But this is where the blessing comes in: My Training Camp Plane Tickets were paid for for me.
Yes, you read that correctly. You are not hallucinating, and I am not lying… I did not have to punch one number from my card into a box today in order to get my flight confirmation number. Believe me when I say I cannot believe that it’s actually a true statement that I am writing in one of my blogs, because that is one miracle and gift of love from Jesus Himself. Not only that, but I am leaving on a Saturday evening and getting to Georgia a couple evenings early to spend time with a Squad Mate I have grown really close to in the past few weeks because that was the cheapest flight option to Training Camp.
I said that miracles never, ever, happened for me back in December when I began this entire World Race process. In other words, I doubted God. But this, everyone, is a miracle. A gift. A blessing I cannot put into words or even think about coherently without smiling from ear to ear. God is so faithful and loving and there is no way I can even repay the person that bought my tickets because like most of my “fan base” for the World Race, I am pretty much next to broke with no real money whatsoever.
But that might be the point of the miracles and blessings only God can give. They are to be given with absolutely nothing expected in return, and received graciously and with a spirit of thankfulness – which I am truly exuding right now. It is so extremely hard for me to let myself be blessed and loved on by others, but God is showing me recently how much I deserve to be able to give love away, but how I also deserve to receive it openly when it comes my way with no repayment needed.
And I promise that the same goes for all of you reading this, too.
All my Love,
Ashley
