God's blessings!

"God can work, if you give him a chance." 

               Throughout this support raising process, the Lord has been teaching me a very valuable lesson: Don't limit God. What I have noticed is that I limit God daily, not just in this support raising situation. Day to day there are instances that I don't let God take full control in, there are areas of my life that I try to run myself and there are actions that I could take that I don't let the Lord guide me in. In this circumstance I'm referring to support raising. 
              Now if you didn't know; support raising is the scariest, most vulnerable and faith-testing experience that I have ever experienced. Through this time around, I have been challenged to give out more support letters before, to personally ask more friends, to ask my home church and home-away-from-home church, and to make phone calls. All of these test my in drastic ways, but God has definitely worked in each and every one. 
             My support raising goal is still very far away, however the Lord has given me little victories that make all of these struggles worth while. That's the crazy thing with support raising. Right when you feel like you have no hope, there is no way you are going to raise this much money - the Lord provides! And he doesn't do it in a way you would expect. He chooses the way you LEAST expected. The Lord is funny that way (: 
             I am seeing his blessings pour in and I am so thankful to serve a God who cares and loves me. With my church at home supporting me and my church at school supporting me, he is reminding me about the loving family community that he has immensely blessed me with. By seeing friends come alongside me on this journey, I am able to clearly see God working through them in amazing ways. With seeing my family willing to give and support me and grown me closer to them and to the Lord as a whole family. Seeing support trickle in here and there gives me the motivation to keep going and to not limit God because he can work in MIGHTY ways... if I give him a chance. So I am going to give him a chance to work in my life!
            The next practical step for me in phone calls. This is definitely not my strong point and it is the most nerve-wracking experience I have been through all of support raising. 
            Please be in prayer for the couple weeks as I continue to search for support. As one of my teammates said it "I know Lord you have that $5,200 sitting somewhere, I just have to take the steps of faith in order for you to provide it." I know He will provide, but not without effort from me as well. Please be in prayer for my fellow students; some have very little support and are in desperate need of prayer. Please be in prayer for the next weeks of planning as we start intensive planning as a leadership team! 

In a month & a half --- I'll be in Australia. 

Ah, crazy!