"Then the word of the LORD came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah." ~1 Kings 17:8-16
A few weeks ago Pastor Dunlop preached on these verses. At first I thought it was going to be another message about giving to the Church. And as it happens so many times, I was wrong. There was a piece in there about giving to the Church, but mostly it was trusting in God and showing God your trust through sacrifice.
In this story we meet a woman who doesn’t seem to be a believer (she refers to God as your God, not our God) and yet she chooses to trust in God. She uses the last of her flour and oil to make this man of God something to eat. It’s all that she has. She has literally left her and her son’s whole survival in God’s hands. And as we see over and over again, He provides.
Pastor Dunlop challenged us with the thought that a true offering is a sacrifice, it doesn’t come from the surplus, it comes from what we “need” to survive. As I’ve shared my story about the World Race with people there seems to be two common responses. The first is I’m crazy but in an awesome, exciting way and the other is that I’m brave. I feel more comfortable in the crazy reaction. Brave? Me? I don’t feel brave. I feel scared and unsure and worried about 95% of the time. People think that I’m brave because I’ll walk away from my life for a year, raise over $15,000 and not work while Sallie Mae will still be knocking on my door every month. But really I’m not the brave one. A year is not a long time to walk away, I can fundraise and save so while the money part is stressful, it’s not scary and when I come home there’s always the option of moving back home if I can’t get a job right away. I haven’t had to be brave, yet.
But there are some who have shown me what it is to be brave. I've seen:
- A student who gave money to buy my pack with money from her summer job, and bought about 100 Threads of Hope bracelets. Did I mention she's a poor college student?
- Friends who have committed to give monthly even though they’re newly married, with all kinds of new responsibilities and bills.
- Friends who continue to give monthly even though they’ve had tons of issues with their car, and are preparing to lead a mission’s trip themselves.
- A former student I haven’t spoken to in years giving to me because she believes God is going to do something big in my life and the lives of others.
- A friend who recently lost her job sending a check even though she doesn’t have a new job lined up.
- Friends who have dedicated their lives to further the kingdom sending me a check even though they are fundraising for their own mission trip.
- Friends who have committed to supporting me monthly even though they are trying to raise a crazy amount of cash to help fight cancer (YOU CAN DO IT!).
- A women who I just met at a birthday party me heard me talk about the World Race for maybe 5 minutes and then signed up to give monthly. She doesn’t know me or this organization. Now there’s some trust!
There are more stories, and I hope I’ll see more but I wanted to give you a glimpse of those I think are brave. Those that don’t have the money but love God (and me 🙂 ) and trust in Him enough to give not from their surplus but from what they need to survive. Knowing that He will provide for their needs. At first whenever people wanted to give I felt bad accepting their money. I only wanted donations from rich people (which incidentally I don’t actually know anyone rich…weird) but God has been challenging me so much through this. Who am I to refuse their blessing? Who am I to say no, you need this more than me. Aren’t I just telling them that God will provide for me but not for them? Well that’s just silly! So now I gratefully and prayerfully accept from these dear people while praying that God will bless them so much and provide in great and powerful ways so they may proclaim His glory to all the earth!
Now I bet you were thinking I was going to challenge you to give money, right. Well you’re mostly wrong! God has been putting on my heart that to be brave I need to live sacrificially. Not give. Live. He wants me to sacrifice are the things I feel I “need” to survive. I don’t really need money. What I need is my sleep/alone time, my pride and to protect my heart. So God is pushing me. To sacrifice my time for other’s, to sacrifice my pride to lift others up and to sacrifice my heart so I can be more real, honest and open with people. And it’s scary and hard but if it wasn’t would it really be a sacrifice? I know that by sacrificing these things God is going to take care of my needs in better ways anyways.
So anyone want to hang out and know the deepest secrets of my heart?
So now comes to the challenge part. Are there areas you need to be more sacrificial for God? Time, money, feelings, thoughts, deeds, words? This list could go on and on. Trust God to provide for your needs. Have I mentioned how thankful I am to journey along with all of you? Great things are going to happen!
And thank you to those of you that have given whether you got a shout out or not. Every penny means the world to me!
