God is good to grow people, and He is good to provide opportunities for growth in our dependency. The students on project have been here for about a week, and I can already see how God is at work in my life, in the lives of the students and staff, and in the people of LA. God is so glorified in us stepping out in faith and realizing that God must come through for our plans to work out. Even in this first week, I have been encouraged by this, and it has been so cool to see our project set the precedent for these steps of faith.
On Saturday, as a staff team, we evaluated our finances on project, and we had a deficit. We came to the conclusion that as a project we needed to take time out in our schedule and make phone calls to raise more support and allow people to partner in ministry as we reach LA.To be honest, fear crippled me as I figured out that even though I had raised full support I was still challenged to call five people. I personally had never had to call for support to come in, but it always came in on its own. Nevertheless, on Sunday, we gathered as an entire project and talked about how we can grow in our reliance on the Lord by stepping out in faith. Before we called anyone, we entered into a brief time of prayer where we brought our needs before God and submitted to His sovereignty, and God spoke so loudly encouraging my heart that He would provide every need for us. In our time before the throne, God began speaking names to me, and I obediently wrote them down. There were still nerves, but I had confidence that "my God will meet all [our] needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). From there on, I had seen call after call that God had orchestrated perfectly. My very first call was met by a generous donation because God had showed him in scripture that he was to be a cheerful giver, and God also gave him the opportunity to walk in scripture. Praise the Lord for a chance to live out His word! Another call was with an old project friend who was in LA two years ago with me. As I caught up with him about project and LA, he had told me that he was just praying for our project and the students. God made a divine appointment for me to share our situation, and he was overjoyed to be able to partner along with us, knowing the very type of ministry that we are doing this summer. About two hours later, our team reported back to each other, and God had exceeded our goal! Truly He has blessed us that we might be a blessing to others.
I think that one of the biggest things that God is teaching me is that I live in a world surrounded by lies, and so often, I believe the lies that they feed me. In fact, it sometimes becomes such a problem that I will place lies in the thoughts of others about me before I even give them a chance to show me that they do not think that about me. Sound confusing? For example, when we first discussed calling people, my thoughts immediately go to the lies that no one will want to give. They, of course, will be so put off by my calling them, and they will get mad for asking. When I go about life this way, it is so easy to let lies permeate my thoughts, and it becomes harder to distinguish the truth from the lies. But when the lies that I tell myself come against the truth of who God is and what His word says, the sword of the Spirit penetrates until the truth is the only one that prevails. Philippians 4:8, 9 reads, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." This is how I am to combat the lies that ring so loudly in my head. If Satan can consume our thoughts with anything besides the truth, the battle is practically lost. I must daily renew and wash over myself with scripture, so the truth may prevail.
I have learned so much, and I am thankful that God is growing me closer to Him while I am here. Everyone on our team has felt so much confirmation that we are where we are supposed to be, and it is no different with me. Thank you guys for your time and your prayers, I hope you will celebrate the work that God is doing here and glorify His name above all others!
Pray for:
-continued team unity
-ministry sites starting next week
-hearts of vulnerability
-greater commitment to loving Christ
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