When life gets crazy, we often begin to lose sight of the most important things in life, at least I have noticed that from time to time in my own personal experience. When distractions set in, I can sometimes find myself not fully investing myself in my relationship with the Lord but rather investing myself in other things. When there aren’t physical things in front of us, it’s easy to lose sight of what we can’t see.
Being Faithful in each moment
Recently on June 14th, I graduated from high school. The month leading up to it was a month of festivities, joy and excitement. This chapter of our lives was ending and we were moving onto the next. I witnessed people counting down the days until graduation, waiting for that one particular day (graduation) to reach as opposed to enjoying each day as it comes at us. I enjoyed each day as it came, bathing in the joy and moments the Lord blessed me with. The Lord has something different in store for us each day, I didn’t want to miss any of it. If we are so focused on one day in the future, we will miss everything leading up to it. The Lord isn’t only working on our endpoint but good golly He is working on the in between and the journey it takes to get there. Graduation was only two hours, but I have had 18+ years leading me up to this day. Each day was filled with its own blessings and joy, whether I noticed or appreciated it? I don’t know, but I can say that I soaked up as much of it as I could. Enjoying each day as it comes to you and appreciating what the Lord has for you in each day is one way of being faithful.
Being Faithful in fundraising
Fundraising. I have never had to fundraise on this large of a scale before. I didn’t realize the work and faithfulness it would take. For World Race Gap Year, we had a deadline on June 18th to have raised $5,000. The morning of June 17th I called my admissions advisor, Austin (great guy btw), for advice. I felt lost. An end goal of $16,600 seemed so far in the distance. It felt out of reach. I found myself thinking, how on earth am I going to raise $16,600!? I can’t do that! How do I do that!?” I found that I wasn’t being faithful to the Lord in my fundraising. I wasn’t giving Him control to provide in funds. I found that I was trying to fundraise completely on my own. Austin reminded me that I can’t do it on my own, none of us can. My friend Ally recently spoke at our youth group about how we each have different gifts. How we can’t build a castle all on our own but that we need each other’s help and combined gifts to really build something beautiful. The Lord puts more on our plates than we can handle so that we have to rely on Him. I wasn’t relying on Him. He is continuously faithful to us, but I wasn’t being faithful to Him.
The morning on June 17th, the day before the $5,000 deadline, I only had $3,733 in my account. I had to find over $1,000 in order to reach this goal on time. After my call with Austin I said, “Lord, I haven’t been faithful to you. But from this step forward I want to start fresh. Being faithful to you. Lord you are always faithful to me. I put this deadline in your hands and believe that we will reach this goal.” And guess what. WE DID!! The Lord provides and provides and provides!! That evening, just hours before the deadline, I managed to surpass the fundraising goal. (Not all the funds had loaded into my account yet but I knew I had all the funds for the first deadline).
Being faithful in everything
When we are faithful to the Lord, He provides. He provides not just funds, but joy, moments and memories to last a lifetime. These are only a few examples but are small windows into larger pictures of being faithful. The Lord didn’t leave me alone because I wasn’t being faithful in everything. He continued to be faithful to me in everything.
Psalm 145:17 The Lord is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does.
All praises to God for He is good!!!
I find myself reflecting on my actions thinking, is what I’m doing bring glory to God? Are the words I’m saying bring the Lord joy? Do my actions show Gods love to the people around me? This reflection helps me to stay on track and in sight of the Lord.
God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good.
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Fundraising Update
We’ve surpassed our fundraising goal! Thank you thank you thank you!! Your donations and prayers are so appreciated and greatly loved.
I am STILL partnered with Go Rings through the end of June. Choose my name (Hannah Upkes) at checkout!
More fundraisers to come! Thanks for the love!
Much love, Hannah Upkes
