Hello all! Happy New Year! So much has happened in the last little while, and I’m excited to share with you! This season of support raising has been so different from how I thought it would go. People have responded differently than I expected, and I have learned so much in this process! There have definitely been discouragements and setbacks, but there has also been blessing, provision, and greater intimacy with the Lord.
During the beginning of this process, I was experiencing some pretty severe discouragement. I wasn’t meeting my weekly goals, and I was believing a lot of lies. I had thoughts like “Experiencing discouragement means you’ve already failed,” and “No one wants to hear about your struggles, so just keep it to yourself, or you’ll bring them down with you.” Clearly, these were lies from the enemy, and I allowed myself to believe them anyway! Fortunately, my sending organization has a fantastic support team for me, and my fundraising coach encouraged me to break out of those cycles of thinking by using scripture to fight the lies, and by *gently* forcing me to share my struggles with other Goers I had met at training. Let me tell you, it was a relief, my admission to struggling was met with empathy and kindness. Satan will try to isolate those who are pursuing God’s will, but he’s no match for the Almighty.
The very next day after the most severe discouragement, despite a myriad of possible roadblocks, The Lord answered several prayers and blessed me in such an unexpected way. The Holy Spirit orchestrated a meeting that allowed me to get plugged into a local House of Prayer to take classes and gain experience in the very work God has prepared for me in Artesia (pseudonym for my country)! And what’s more – this HOP that I’m now a part of is the very same one that my team leaders came from before they themselves left for the field! It’s the same DNA! Of all the places I could live on this planet, and of all the work He could have chosen for me to do, I happen to live only an hour away from the most ideal source of training for me and the ministry God has given me. Through this HOP, I have been able to go deeper into God’s heart, and He has drawn me to Himself in powerful ways! I have learned many techniques in prayer (an answer for my request that He would teach me how to pray) and was given a mentor (another answer to prayer!). The entire experience just felt like a huge hug from our Heavenly Father, and a testament to His hesed (lovingkindness).
As far as support raising goes, I am nearly at 80% of my monthly goal, and at almost 100% of my launch goal! Hallelujah! God has even recently provided for my physical needs before I leave for Artesia! One of my struggles has been finding the money to front (before being reimbursed) for certain costs that are built into my budget, like my visa, airfare to training, and accommodations at training as well as other physical needs like certain clothing items I will need before I leave. Because support raising is done best and fastest when there is no secondary employment, I haven’t had any significant or regular income since September. Through a special donor, God has given the exact right amount of up-front, in-my-pocket funds to cover those expenses! What a GENEROUS and FAITHFUL God!!!
The closer launch day gets, the more real this big move feels. I look around my home town and somehow I feel just a little out of place. I know I will miss my family, friends, and even the land very much when I am gone. But I am reminded that my true home is heaven, in the arms of Jesus.
Here are the lyrics to a classic hymn that I have been feeling in my heart lately:
Great is Thy faithfulness
O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not
Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been
Thou forever will be
Chorus:
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me
Summer and Winter
And spring-time and harvest
Sun moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness
Mercy and love
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me
Pardon for sin
And a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord every morning new mercies I see
And all I have needed Thy hands hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Great is Thy faithfulness
Lord unto me
If you will pray with me:
That I will be fully funded by February 14th
For my team in Artesia - wisdom, discernment, and blessing as we begin this new decade, to know the direction God desires us to go.
That people would be responsive to my calls and desire to know more about what God is doing in Central Asia
That my heart would be prepared for the 2 weeks of training next month