In two days I will be getting up at the crack of dawn with my dad to fly to Kona, Hawaii for my DTS with YWAM. Pops graciously offered to drive me to the airport at 3am, (in case he hasn't driven to Philly enough lately) even though he has to work that day. He's a treasure.
To put it lightly, I have been BLOWN AWAY, (no exaggeration) by the kindness and generosity of others. This has nothing to do with me, because honestly, I have had such little faith that God would provide my entire lecture AND outreach fees for the school through my own savings, work as a substitute teacher, and the GENEROUS donations of others. I was seriously expecting to go without all of the money and just pray that it would all come in by some miracle. In other words, I knew that God would provide, I just didn't think He would be that good to me by also giving me the peace and reassurance of having it all before I leave. Moral of the story: God provides in exactly his own way and I need to be a little more expectant of the miracles He can do!
I cannot say enough thanks to those of you that donated money. While I had to humble myself and realize the fact that I couldn't do this alone, God used each of you to encourage me! For those of you that know me you know that I am big on making plans. I like to be prepared so much that it makes me one "strong independent woman" as I like to joke. This experience of fundraising has required me to say "you know what, I don't have a plan, nor do I know how this is going to work out, but I am dependent on God rather than myself and the "strong independent woman" power within me isn't enough." I'm not gonna lie... that kind of trust was really stretching for me, but as each of you sent money, I realized that YOU are entrusting me with some of your money, which shows that you are also trusting God to provide for your needs as well. Nothing like a kick in the pant seat from a ton of people demonstrating faith in my area of struggle! Thank you all for trusting God in this way, and for helping me to answer the Lord's call to do this thing!
For those of you that sent encouraging notes, and gifts... I am overwhelmed with emotion every time I look at it all. With all of these tokens of love and encouragement I feel as though the Lord has used you to remind me of how truly BLESSED I am to know each and every one of you. I keep them all in a little box, and each time I open it I am visually reminded of how loved I am, despite the fact that I feel I don't deserve it. It was a beautiful thing to open letters from friends and family that want to express their love and appreciation for me... it felt like a birthday but better! I would love to tell you about each item in this picture and how much each of these people mean to me, but I feel as though I have been gushing enough already, so I will share two things that particularly touched my heart in a unique way.
1. A letter from a Black Rock Retreat Summer camper's parents. It is always a blessing to hear that my past five years there meant something to someone, even though it was a BLAST for myself, as well. I have been so blessed to be a part of the ministry there and it will certainly be difficult once in a while this summer as I think of those at camp. For my dear summer staffers of 2014: I will be praying for you every time I think of you! God does great work through you!
2. My kindergarten teacher and long-time friend, Mary Lou (Humphreys) Neidig, gave me the sweetest card and a friendship bracelet so that I could remember my support system of friends and family back home. How many people can say that their kindergarten teacher has watched them grow up and is still a part of their lives today, especially enough to give them a FRIENDSHIP bracelet?! Seriously, this woman is amazing and means so much to me... I could write an entire blog post about how much I love her but I will refrain... for now. ;)
I know I said I would only share two but I also have to know that any of the items in the picture above that could possibly be sewn were indeed sewn by my amazingly talented and giving friend, Courtney Wood. She's... just ridiculous. If you know her, you know what I mean. If you don't know her, well, I'm sorry about that.
I do apologize for gushing so much in this blog post, so if you are still reading, KUDOS to you for withstanding the emotional explosion all over this webpage. I simply want you all to know how much I appreciate you. The next time I post it will probably be in Kona... EEK! Gotta finish packing!
0 comments:
Post a Comment