In 1 Chronicles, we hear the amazing story of king David and the people of Israel joyously and wholeheartedly giving all that they have to the Lord. “Leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. ANY who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the LORD in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.” Upon giving all that they had, David praises the Lord before the people, boldly proclaiming, “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”
I’m going to be honest with you. This is the first time I’ve read this story. Well, I’ve heard it but I’ve never really heard it. As I read it, I simply felt like David. I wanted nothing more than to rejoice and praise God for His provision and for bringing me this far.
My friends, I come before you to thank you for your generosity. I thank you for joining me in the efforts to spread forth the Kingdom of God. I thank you for sacrificing what you have to provide for me in what I don’t. Each time I look at my list of donors my heart nearly skips a beat and my face beams with joy. I am truly blessed by all of you and I thank you.
My account is looking very good right now thanks to your generosity, thanks to your obedience in trusting the Lord with your funds. I do, however, have a sister here who needs provision, hence the name
of the blog. She is still waiting for more men and women of God to step up and trust the Lord completely, as king David so joyfully did. Maybe you’ve already generously given to me, maybe you’re still wanting to. Either way, I ask that you’d consider supporting my teammate and sister in Christ, Ashley.
Some of you may be hesitant to support someone you don’t know so, let me tell you a bit about this amazing individual and why I love her. For starters, you need to know she is one of my teammates. By supporting her, you are also supporting me. Anywho, Ashley is the baby of the team…not in mentality, but in age. While she may be young, she’s jam-packed with wisdom. She hails from the lovely state of Missouri and is the certified team vlogger. What is a vlogger you may ask? It’s a video blogger! Crazy! Ashley has a passion and talent for making creative and catchy movies (and no, that’s not a challenge to you Ashley, that’s the truth!) kind of like this one.
Ashley has been a true blessing to me, as well as to our entire team. She cooks for us, she encourages us. She even prays for wifi and has her prayers heard! Her heart desires nothing more than to serve the Lord and to do His will. I have witnessed this huge heart of hers begin to break for the people of this world and it’s been a truly beautiful experience. To be able to walk alongside such a ready, collected, encouraging, and beautiful child of God on this journey has been such a blessing for me these past 11 days and I am more than confident that I will be blessed tenfold (plus some!) as this year continues.
In order for Ashley to be able to give her all to this team and really get the most out of the experience, Ashley still needs people to sacrifice and support her on this mission. None of us want her to have to spend her World Race experience fundraising and really, if it were me in this situation, I don’t think any of you would want that either. Ashley is a remarkable individual and I’ve already grown to love this beautiful daughter of God. I ask that if you have even just $1 that you can share this day that you would consider supporting Ashley in her mission. As I said once before, by supporting her, you are supporting me so please do not feel as if this would be taking away from my funding or like you should be giving to me instead. My account is looking great right now thanks to all of you. Would you consider helping make hers look just as great?
To read more about Ashley and follow her throughout these next 11 months (something I strongly encourage), visit her blog at ashleyhiggins.theworldrace.org
I thank you. She thanks you. The Lord thanks you. So thanks you and may God’s grace and joy overwhelm you today and each day that follows!! 🙂
