Wow! I cannot believe that it is already the middle of July!!! Summer here in Pittsburgh is just flying by...I have been busy here enjoying lots of family time, attending weddings & graduations, babysitting & dog sitting, traveling around working volleyball camps in PA and SC, working to complete my homework for the week-long intensive class I am taking in August at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and of course organizing details for my Malawi departure! Talk about being busy! But I am for the most part enjoying every minute of it! :-)
Malawi details are continuing to fall into place slowly but surely...
I went to the Allegheny County Health Department last week and updated all of my vaccinations. I only ended up having to get three new ones: typhoid, HepA #2, and H1N1. Yay! So minus rounding up my Malaria medicine I am all set! I have also been working on raising my support for the trip and have been completely surprised at how God is working. Going into this process I pretty much thought I knew what I was getting myself into but boy I had NO IDEA! I have been exposed to many different individuals working to raise their support, especially within these past 4 years, and have heard many different stories of how much people learn through the support raising process so I really thought I had at least a general idea of what the process was going to be like. I knew it was not going to be easy but I fully didn't understand what a step out in faith it was really going to be!!! The whole process is moving very slow and not like I expected it. On the other hand though, God has been surprising me left and right with where He has been providing money! God has introduced me to many new people through random interactions who have taken an interest in my trip and have jumped at the opportunity to support me. I am in awe!
Just in this past week alone I have learned so much about myself and more about God's character, how faithful He is, and how He really delights in providing for His people. Going into this past week I was only at about 4% of my total support. I have to book my plane ticket by July 15th and need 29% (~$2323) to do that. There is a huge difference (it feels like to me) between 4 and 30%! This big gap made me feel so anxious since it was already the beginning of July. I felt very discouraged and realized that I really wasn't trusting that God was big enough to provide all of the money I need in time. Oh wow crazy realization! After that I spent a lot of time praying about it and asked God to really prove me wrong in providing for me! The very next morning I had a meeting with a possible supporter that I was very nervous about but it went really well! That very morning I felt like God was already answering my prayer! Later on that night though after checking my email from JTW I calculated that I was no longer at 4% but was now at 11%!!!!! Wow talk about proving me wrong! Everything I experienced at the beginning of last week was one big step in me continuing to handover control of this process to God. I am still continuing to pray though that God would help me release my doubts and anxiousness to Him. Please pray this with me as well!
As of tonight there are only 2 days left before I have to book my plane ticket and I am now at 19%! Only 10% more to go!!! So please also continue to pray with me that I would make this deadline.
Thanks for hanging in there on a long post!
Grace & Peace
Steph
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment