Tuesday, July 29, 2008
this is off the hook!
possibly at 80%?!! Lets just say it has been an incredible week or so!! All thanks to God, who clearly has been working miracles!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
sweetness
wahoooooo for 60% of support!!! probably close to 65% after this week......man, God is so so GOOD!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
lets get it started....
I figured I should probably post something on here since I have it set up and I've been handing out business cards and such with the link on it.....just in case someone, sometime, in their boredom or curiosity might check it (Hi Mom!) So here we go...my first post!
I'm still in the support-raising stage of my STINT adventure, so these first few posts are meant to give you an update on how God is working in people's hearts as I develop my team of ministry partners as well as what He's teaching me personally through His Word.
drumroll please....... I'm at 45% of my total goal for the upcoming year!!! Praise the Lord!!!! I've been realizing more and more how much it is completely God working in people's hearts, NOT my amazing persuasion skills (ha!) that calls people to give so generously. And before now I never thought too hard about all the truly awesome people that God has put in my life. There are so many!!! Some that I don't even know, which just completely blows my mind. To think I can send some random family/couple/person a letter and meet with them once and they are willing to commit to supporting me for a year is nothing short of astounding. Wow. God is sooo good!
If you ever get the chance to study the book of Romans, do not, I repeat, DO NOT pass it up!! God has been teaching me some pretty sweet things already this summer through this super-deep book. The first chapter talks quite a bit about God's wrath because of man's rebellion. And when when the word "wrath" is used, I have to stop myself from thinking of the kind of angry, selfish wrath people use to get revenge, but of a completely righteous revulsion that God has against that which completely contradicts his holiness (basically the stuff I do/think/say every day). God has revealed himself to man, made himself evident through creation (among other things). Even though we (all people everywhere) should know God exists, we do not honor Him and are inherently inclined to go against everything He is/stands for/wants us to do. So being God and having the right to react against what dishonors who he is, God "gave them over" to their impure desires ("them" being those who turn from God - including you and me). At first this struck me as weird....I don't think I often consider the fact that God is in control of what tempts us and the sin that can control us. Often I think God is too "nice" to do something like give someone over to their sinful desires. God letting us experience the pain and destructive effects of sin is a display of his wrath - which is completely necessary if God is who he says he is - completely holy. yiiiikes! Basically.....God is perfect. We are definitely not. And that means salvation is our greatest need....because why even talk about salvation if there is nothing we need to be saved from? And all of this just from Chapter 1 of Romans!
If you're still with me (and I applaud you if you are) here are some things you can pray for if you feel so inclined to pray for me (which I'd really appreciate!)
1. That the value of the US dollar would go up or the value of the Euro would go down. I'm completely serious. Fears are starting to creep into my mind about having to raise more support than originally planned because of how weak the dollar is right now.
2. That I would continue to be disciplined in carrying out both duties for support and other stuff I need to get done every day (ie tons of design projects going on at once). When I have no set schedule I tend to get nothing done.
3. That I would trust the Lord for the rest of the support raising process and not try to do things on my own strength.
4. For student's hearts in Berlin - that God would be drawing them to himself even now, and begin to give them correct a view of themselves and how He relates to them.
wow, blogging is kind of exhausting. hopefully I can keep this up for a year!
I'm still in the support-raising stage of my STINT adventure, so these first few posts are meant to give you an update on how God is working in people's hearts as I develop my team of ministry partners as well as what He's teaching me personally through His Word.
drumroll please....... I'm at 45% of my total goal for the upcoming year!!! Praise the Lord!!!! I've been realizing more and more how much it is completely God working in people's hearts, NOT my amazing persuasion skills (ha!) that calls people to give so generously. And before now I never thought too hard about all the truly awesome people that God has put in my life. There are so many!!! Some that I don't even know, which just completely blows my mind. To think I can send some random family/couple/person a letter and meet with them once and they are willing to commit to supporting me for a year is nothing short of astounding. Wow. God is sooo good!
If you ever get the chance to study the book of Romans, do not, I repeat, DO NOT pass it up!! God has been teaching me some pretty sweet things already this summer through this super-deep book. The first chapter talks quite a bit about God's wrath because of man's rebellion. And when when the word "wrath" is used, I have to stop myself from thinking of the kind of angry, selfish wrath people use to get revenge, but of a completely righteous revulsion that God has against that which completely contradicts his holiness (basically the stuff I do/think/say every day). God has revealed himself to man, made himself evident through creation (among other things). Even though we (all people everywhere) should know God exists, we do not honor Him and are inherently inclined to go against everything He is/stands for/wants us to do. So being God and having the right to react against what dishonors who he is, God "gave them over" to their impure desires ("them" being those who turn from God - including you and me). At first this struck me as weird....I don't think I often consider the fact that God is in control of what tempts us and the sin that can control us. Often I think God is too "nice" to do something like give someone over to their sinful desires. God letting us experience the pain and destructive effects of sin is a display of his wrath - which is completely necessary if God is who he says he is - completely holy. yiiiikes! Basically.....God is perfect. We are definitely not. And that means salvation is our greatest need....because why even talk about salvation if there is nothing we need to be saved from? And all of this just from Chapter 1 of Romans!
If you're still with me (and I applaud you if you are) here are some things you can pray for if you feel so inclined to pray for me (which I'd really appreciate!)
1. That the value of the US dollar would go up or the value of the Euro would go down. I'm completely serious. Fears are starting to creep into my mind about having to raise more support than originally planned because of how weak the dollar is right now.
2. That I would continue to be disciplined in carrying out both duties for support and other stuff I need to get done every day (ie tons of design projects going on at once). When I have no set schedule I tend to get nothing done.
3. That I would trust the Lord for the rest of the support raising process and not try to do things on my own strength.
4. For student's hearts in Berlin - that God would be drawing them to himself even now, and begin to give them correct a view of themselves and how He relates to them.
wow, blogging is kind of exhausting. hopefully I can keep this up for a year!
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