God keeps surprising me, and it’s amazing–you would think I
would stop being surprised and start to EXPECT these things from God…
So this past Thursday my squad all committed to setting the
day aside as a day of fasting and prayer, specifically for our squad
finances–that God would provide in abundance what we need and that our entire
squad would be fully funded before we even leave in January (which I don’t
think has EVER happened.)
First off, let me just say that fasting has always been a
difficult concept for me to grasp. I’ve
never fully understood why my not eating would have any affect on my
relationship with God or the outcomes of my prayers. And I still don’t really get it completely,
but this past Thursday showed me that when we really rely on God for
everything–even the strength to physically make it through the day–He will
reward that faith.
So on to the really cool part of the story: Thursday
morning, I checked my support account to see where I was at with
everything. Between what I already had
in my account and what has been pledged in monthly or quarterly donations, I
figured out that I still needed a little over $1700 to be fully funded for my
trip. Which I was completely amazed
because God has already provided so much so quickly!
But I was also thinking, “How else am I going to raise the
rest of this money??”
Then I remembered that my WONDERFUL church family at Trinity Wesleyan Church
had done a bake sale fundraiser for me while I was at training camp. I hadn’t heard how much they made yet, so I
sent my pastor an email to ask him. His
email back blew me away! He told me that
they made–wait for it–$1700 from the bake sale!!
A couple things–1) I have done plenty of bake sales at that
church, and on average, we would make about $300. Read that again. $300. $1700. Whoa God!
2) How crazy is it that it was the EXACT amount that I had
just prayed about earlier that morning that I still needed?!
3) How fitting that God provided in such an awesome way on
the very day that my squad and I were purposefully seeking and trusting Him for
our finances!
Just let all that sink in for a minute. God is SO GOOD!!! What a blessing to see the body of Christ in
action!
A few side notes:
*I want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone
who has supported me financially so far! I can’t even put into words how blessed and loved and supported I feel
right now!
*To those of you who have committed to support me monthly
or quarterly-THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Your continued donations will make it possible for me to be able to
fully invest in ministry on the field, rather than having to take time away
from ministry to continue support-raising.
*If anyone still feels led to give, I am still able to
raise another $1500 to help cover some of my expenses that aren’t covered
in the cost of this trip, such as vaccinations, insurance, travel to my launch
point, and travel home at the end, so you can still make tax-deductible
contributions to my account if you want. Or I can give you the names of some of my amazing teammates who are
still raising funds:)
