My squad and I started our time in Greece with news that all of our adventure days would be at the beginning of the month. The buzz of mountains to climb and ancient cities to explore spread through my squad. I had amazing opportunity laid at my feet with one problem.
I was out of personal money.
Last month was the first time I had to ask my parents for personal spending money. While the fundraising I’ve been doing covers food, lodging, and travel, personal money is still needed for the things like new shoes, coffee, and adventures.
Not wanting to be a burden, I didn’t want to ask my parents for more money for these adventure days (DISCLAIMER: I know that’s not healthy). This left to me to explore Thessaloniki and my questions about provision with a few others who deiced to stay back in the city. Most of the time, these kinds of questions are the ones I take into the deep caverns of a coffee shop and don’t find my way out until I’ve come up with a answer worthy of the sunlight. However, something the Lord showed me last month was that I need to let people in on my process. This time I decided to tell my friends what was on my mind when the furrowed brown of my thinking face made an appearance. We boarded a pirate ship/bar that took us out to get a new better view of the city and to discuss our questions about God’s provision. Once we were back on land, I still had more questions than answers.
Working with refugees and seeing the poverty in Greece made all of this more complex for me. How could I say I wasn’t provided for when I would pass families sleeping on the streets on my way back to our hostel? Not having a coffee didn’t seem to be something to fret over after you hand out food to people who haven’t had consistent nutrition. However, I realized that one of the major problems I was wrestling with was that I was thinking from a scarcity mentality. I asked my journal one day how I could ask for myself when I knew the bigger picture? Underneath that question was a belief that there isn’t enough to go around. It says that if I take any for myself, then I’m taking what could be given to my brother.
Which isn’t true. Our God is a God of abundance.
Paul addresses this in Philippians 4.
12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
AND
19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
What I realized through not having extra to go on adventures or get coffee whenever I wanted was that I was getting a taste of what it means to be brought low. Paul says he learned how to face that though. He didn’t say his world ended because his financial situation wasn’t what people said it should be. Paul never steps into a mentality that says there isn’t enough. He says that Jesus will supply our every need.
This is what I have to believe for myself. This is what I have to believe for the refugees and the people in poverty around me. This is what I have to believe for all of humanity.
