{update} india

Three weeks from today, right now, I will be on a plane bound for India (eventually). A lot of people ask me if I'm excited. "Excited" is not the word I would use. But I am ready.

God is so good...all the time. He has answered so many prayers.

1.  From the time I knew the Lord wanted me to go on this trip, I also felt as though He was asking me to trust Him completely for my fund-raising. Specifically, that I shouldn't write letters to be sent to friends and family asking for support. The story of George Muller continued to come to mind and I felt challenged to pray boldly and confidently trust God and not myself for the funding. (George Muller opened numerous orphanages without earning money or asking for money or doing anything other than hitting his knees and asking God to provide...read his story...it's amazing!)

I needed to raise $2900. This was scary. We don't have $2900 just waiting in a savings account to fall back on "if this didn't work". But I believed in my heart it was the Holy Spirit nudging me.

So I started praying, every single day, asking God to provide the money for my trip. Jason wasn't as sure as I was that this was the way to go, so we compromised and I put one shout-out on Facebook, and one post on the blog. Right away, I received two significant checks that covered over half of what I needed. Wow! I was amazed and humbled and in awe of God's provision.

Money continued to slowly trickle in...but by the deadline, I was still short by about $400. I kind of started to panic because we don't have $400. I continued to pray. I asked God to provide, but I also asked Him to give me unwavering faith in His provision and to stop counting the money...just TRUST. I began praying for the rest of my team as well because I knew there were others who didn't have enough yet either.

We had our final "business" team meeting last Sunday and every single person is covered. How amazing is our God?! That statement seems flat and not "big enough" to fully express my feelings of adoration, humility and WORSHIP. I have done nothing to earn the blessings and yet every single day, He pours them out.

2.  My heart has softened, I no longer feel dread in the pit of my stomach when I think about the trip.

3.  My team was given (what I believe to be) divine inspiration to come up with a skit that we will perform while ministering to some very broken and cast-aside women.

4.  Just a few weeks ago, we decided to raise money to buy saris for these women, as most of them may only own one sari. God provided enough money to purchase 150 saris PLUS extra.

"How can I keep from singing Your praise?? How can I ever say enough...how amazing is Your love? How can I keep from shouting Your Name? I am loved by the King...and it makes my heart want to sing!"

If you're still here reading...thank you. If you've been praying...thank you. If you sent financial support...thank you.

Please keep praying for us and our families. I think it's harder on the families left behind to carry-on the daily grind alone than it is on those of us doing the traveling.

Please pray that we will SHINE with Christ's love. That it will be evident we are there in His Name and that He loves every single person more than they can imagine. Please pray that the Spirit encourages and uplifts the people we visit, that they will tangibly feel His love and see His face.

I am a vessel, a clay jar. My deepest desire is to be used by the King for HIS glory.