Hallelujah

Hallelujah what a Savior! 

Hallelujah:

Exclamation:	God be praised.
Noun:	An expression of worship or rejoicing.

"O my Strength, I sing praise to you; you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God."

(Psalm 59:17)

Lord, I praise you! You are God, you are Mighty, you are Strength, you are Love, you are Wisdom, you are many things Lord! I praise you in the time of working on Australia budget issues. I praise you in the midst of struggle, I praise you during this time because you are Worthy! 
"Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!" (Psalm 66:20)
You have not left me, you have not rejected my prayers. You have given me peace, strength, and the will to keep going. 

I love you Lord and I take this short moment in the day to say Hallelujah to Your Name! God be praised! There is no one like you God! 

Online Giving

Hey all! 
       I didn't take advantage of this last year, but there is an online way of giving directly to my Summer Project fund for Australia! Just go to this link https://give.ccci.org/give/5594860 and press give a gift! 
      The goal is still around $5,000 and I would be lying to you all if I didn't admit that it is definitely harder support raising this year. Doubts have filled my mind and stress has began to settle in my heart, but it's during these times that I'm desperately trying to cling unto the Lord. When these thoughts creep into my heart, I practice by setting my mind on things above and setting my heart on things above. I know that God is a MIGHTY God and that through my mere human eyes, yes, this goal seems impossible. But the Lord can work in amazing ways and I have to just rest on that truth that He will have His will be done. 
     I pray that those considering to give would give cheerfully and only if the Lord has placed upon your heart to give. I didn't mean for this post to be a time for complaining or begging, but rather for you all to see what truly lies in my heart. The Lord is giving me peace and rest through this process :) 

Bible verse for this post: 
"Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

And I'm going back!

Hello to all of you who are looking at this blog for the first time! Please feel free to read past blog posts from my experiences last summer! There are options on the right-hand side of the page that give lists of months & blog posts you can read! They're filled of stories of my decision to go, my struggles & praise reports from support raising, my time in Australia, prayer requests during the time I was in country & my letter of reflection. If that sounds intimidating, please try & read the latest post Letter of Reflection.

It sums up my experience & my continuing heart for the country. The Lord left a lasting impact of Australia on my heart and now I'm getting the amazing opportunity to return! Now some of you may be asking, how did this all happen? My general answer is that it was all in the Lord's will! It was unexpected, a crazy leap of faith for me & ultimately revealed God's plan.

It starts of during Christmas break when I got an unforeseen phonecall from a staff member, Kathryn. She starts off by asking how my break is going then jumps right into the real question. She said that Cru (the Christian organization I'm involved in at UCLA) was looking for an Operations Project Director for the upcoming Australia Summer Project. I was so shocked that I didn't even realize that she was asking me to do it until she continued to say that staff had prayed about it & wanted me to be the first student that they ask. Now, let me remind you that this is during Christmas Break, aka I am NOT thinking about my summer at all! I mean I had some plans about going to Boston to earn money at a summer camp with my brother's church, but I had not seriously thought about my summer yet or made definite plans. (God's timing)

After the phone call, I prayed. I prayed for days. I prayed for clarity from God to show me what he wants me to do. At first, I was completely excited about the opportunity to return to Australia! I felt like God has kept it on my heart for a reason, but I wasn't sure why. But then, the emotions started to flood my mind. (Sorry, I'm a girl. I have to talk about emotions.) I instantly felt afraid, inadequate and lost. I felt afraid because now I was going from summer plans filled with earning money to summer plans that require me to go through the long and scary process of raising $5,000! I felt inadequate because this leadership job is in charge of all the finances and major details, (and I mean a lot here) from booking plane flights, to getting passports, to making sure all the students raise their money while at the same time I'm raising my own! I felt lost because there was absolutely no clarity in this situation. Both decisions sounded good to me, sounded like I'd be glorifying the Lord. However, Australia stuck in my mind. It was the one that was less comfortable and more of a leap of faith. (Now, I'm not saying that Australia is more spiritual than going to Boston, or that you always HAVE to pick the more uncomfortable option, but for me, I felt like God was nudging me towards Australia.)

So I did it! I accepted the position after days of praying, crying and praying again. (Remember, I'm a girl = emotions.) But now I am filled with this ambition to do this job! To lead these students and help them lean on the Lord for their financial worries. I still have many many many moments of inadequacies. There are so many forms, legal issues, contracts and excell documents that I have to learn - but it's a constant reminder that I definitely cannot do this on the Lord. It forces me to cling unto God for everything and I am incredibly thankful for the helpers he has given me in this life! (aka staff members in UCLA Cru)

So there it is! My mini-version of my story of how/why I'm going back! The Lord has given me a passion to return to Australia, to break that apathy and share the Gospel in a very spiritually dark nation. I'm still nervous about support raising, but prayer and through my work, I know He will get me through! God is SO GOOD! :)