To start, let me say the amount of my life that revolves around coffee is insane. By no means am I complaining because I love coffee, but I’m surprised my heart hasn’t stopped from caffeine overload. Most days start with making a cup of coffee and spending time with God, after that it’s off to the office to work and have meetings (by office I mean Starbucks and by work and meetings I mean support raising), then after dinner it’s normally back to some coffee shop to spend time with friends. Here are some key moments of recent that have happened around a cup of coffee:
- Having dates with God in the morning while drinking coffee and reading the Bible or The Story.
- While in Minnesota at training I got to have some good bonding time with other people in a similar season; making coffee runs to Starbucks during a short break in the middle of the day, morning coffee with friends at the hotel, and coffee around a table with my Berlin team before going to the Minnesota state fair.
- Meeting with good friends and church family over a cup of coffee and catching up on life.
- Meeting on a weekly basis with a past professor who I greatly admire and going for a run then chatting over coffee.
- Visiting friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. One who works at Starbucks and our race to get to Starbucks before they closed after leaving Cedar Point. And two others who I got to relax and watch a movie with while sipping on coffee (relaxing isn’t something that happens very often anymore).
So all of that may sound kind of silly and you may be wondering why I’m writing about this, but it’s because these things have been so life giving for me. In the difficulty of support raising and fretting over if the support needed will come in time, these are the things that have kept me joyful and have been great encouragement. These times have helped me stay positive and the people have encouraged me and helped me stay focused. When I think about where I’ve seen God over the past couple weeks it is normally in times like these.
Yesterday was another one of those times. I had an appointment with a church first thing in the morning so while I was getting ready I made a cup of coffee and grabbed it as I ran out the door. As I drove to the church I drank the coffee and it may have been the best cup of coffee I’ve had in a while; so I drove, drank, and prayed. God was with me at that moment, in the silence of my car and in the warmth and sweet taste of my cup. The first meeting went well and I was filled with joy as I was able to talk about what I’m passionate about and how God has been crafting my story. Then it was to the office to work before another meeting. After a couple productive hours I was off again and again given the chance to talk about what I’ll be doing and why I’m so passionate about it. In that meeting God gave great blessings and I was overcome with a new joy and sense of confidence in God’s provisions. One of the things my supporter said was he was impressed with how cheerful and full of energy I was because with how much more support I need to raise and in such a short amount of time it would be really easy to be beat down. My friends, the coffee, and my God, that is why I am still so cheerful and full of energy. It just goes to show how great God is and how He is everywhere, from a faithful supporter to a good cup of coffee. He gives great blessings and even more so when we choose to see His blessings in the simple things.
With love and a warm cup of coffee to fuel your soul,
Diedre
A couple more notes:
- Support wise right now I still need $500 monthly support and $6,000 start-up. That may seem like a lot but I trust that God will provide in His time.
- Another great moment, one that did not involve coffee though, was visiting my Papa (grandpa). He is someone that no matter what I do he continues to think I’m just the bee’s knees. He loves me and spoils me and him and I always share great conversation. Words cannot express the love I have for him.
- In 22 days I will (hopefully) be getting on a plane and headed to Berlin! The hopefully is dependent on myself and my team and if we have our support in time because we will all go together when we are all fully supported.