The other morning I got up early so I could have some devotional time before my Biology lab. As I rolled out of bed I heard the pattering of rain across my roof and saw that the sky had enveloped the world in a blanket of grey. I shuffled myself downstairs, lit some candles, and put some water in the kettle for tea. It was a peaceful morning, devoid of distractions, a perfect time to meet with God. I’m going through a devotional right now called 100 Days to Brave by Annie F. Downs. So far the devotional has been challenging, not only because I have some commitment issues with devotionals, but also because this particular one is speaking truth right into my heart and challenging me to be bold. The scripture that I was reading yesterday morning was Romans 10:8 where Paul states, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” Initially this scripture didn’t read as a challenge to me but as I began to dwell on it and read the surrounding passages where Paul says, “How can they hear without someone preaching to them?” I felt my heartbeat pick up; I had class in 45 minutes. I could talk to my peers about the love of God today. I just had to be brave.
My devotional time ended well, with steaming tea and hopeful convictions about my day ahead. Throughout my time on campus I waited for God to prompt me to speak to someone but nothing surfaced. I left my lab class, happy to be out and curious about whether or not I had misread the Spirit’s prompting. Then I got a call from my lab Professor. Apparently, she couldn’t find me on blackboard (our assignment site) and I had been automatically dropped from all of my classes. I called financial management freaking out- I had basically just been kicked out of college. As I was calling I was thinking how is this happening? I had such a good devotional time today! But God’s enemy likes to attack when we are weak and when we are strong. And so the battle has commenced. Apparently, the routing number between my payment plan for my classes and my bank account was mis-entered and my payment for this month was not automatically taken out of my account, which then resulted in me being dropped from my classes. There are about a billion steps in the re-enrollment process and to top it all off, because it’s too late to be added to a new payment plan (I was automatically dropped from mine) I have to pay the rest of my tuition by this week. Needless to say, stress is high. But in this I know God has a plan. I have worked out a loan system for college with my exceptionally generous grandparents and am currently contacting professors to sign off on my re-enrollment. Everything should be okay by the end of the week, God willing.
Through the whole ordeal there were tears and frustration and doubt. But God is providing for my school and teaching me to rely on Him for everything. Literally everything. Even my education, which in all honesty I thought I could handle by myself, but obviously not. Oh, and by the way, I wasn’t mislead in God’s prompting through my devotional. In my public speaking class later that same evening I was able to give a part of my testimony to my classmates and talk to them about God’s unfailing love and guidance. It was incredible! God truly provided the words for me to say in my heart and then in my speech. God is everywhere, two steps in front of every plan I’m trying to enact and two steps behind me picking up my mess. He is the Father that never rests and pursues us endlessly and I am so grateful for that.
I have recently been contacting local churches about sharing my testimony with small groups to raise support for this mission and in this process Grace Bible Church has been such a blessing to my life. One of the small group leaders of a college group I attend spoke to the staff about what I was doing and the church decided to give me a donation of $1200! Isn’t God completely incredible for working through them to answer my prayers? I am so thankful for their generous donation and now fundraising is up to almost $2000! Praise God! I’m praying for all of you and am so appreciative of your support and encouragement in this leap of faith, thank you! I’ll be talking to you again soon.
