Monday, April 30, 2012

Testimony of His GOODness

Three weeks, three weeks threeeeeeeeeee weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks!!!!!!!! Ah, I am SO EXCITED! Wow, guys you have no idea how intense this journey of hoping, believing, praying, and trusting has been for me. And now that it’s almost done, the fun is about to begin. Yay yay yay!!!!!! So when I last blogged I was basically “blogging by faith”… if that’s a term haha. I knew what I was being called to, but had no idea where the money would come from. But then it dawned on me: heaven! Friends, these past 6 weeks have been nothing short of miraculous! God has used this time to let the truth of wh12o He is drop from my head to my heart, and not only who He is, but more specifically who He is to ME. The biggest revelation of His character I have received is the meaning of the popular saying “God is good”. I’ve said that for years. I’m sure most of you have too. But what does that even mean? In the churches I grew up in the pastor would say “God is good” and then congregation would reply “all the time”. It was a mantra that we learned and said without ever really stopping to think about what it means. It never evoked any kind of emotion nor did it even make me think about God at all. It was basically just a way of saying good morning or greeting the crowd. Well, I have news for any of you who are like me and never have had a revelation of what that phrase means. God is good. He is a good Daddy, an amazing Father that is insanely and passionately in love with us and wants to give us good gifts because He likes to see us smile. He is everything good. Nothing bad ever comes from Him. He is only good. He is not a neutral God. He is a good God. Even when I am bad, He is good. When I do bad things, think bad thoughts, say bad words, don’t obey him, don’t trust him, don’t believe him, He is still good and He still loves me. When I say good I mean merciful, gracious, forgiving, fun, faithful, truthful, loving, compassionate, creative, generous, patient, protective, kind, funny, wise. He is the good Father who will not give His children a stone if they ask for bread. In fact, He is the good Father that will not only give you the bread you ask for but butter and jam as well. How do I know this? Because I asked Him for bread afraid of receiving a stone, but trusting His goodness, and He gave me warm bread with melted butter and strawberry jam which is my absolute favorite! And He even gave me a nice cup of tea to wash it down. Hahaha He’s sooooo good!!! So for the sake of not making this blog a novel I will just tell you about the amazing financial provision the Lord has showered down on me over the past 6 weeks and share a couple testimonies. My favorite testimony happened last week. About 3 weeks prior I got a letter in the mail from a pastor in New York saying that she had heard me preaching at my dad’s church a couple of weeks prior when she was in Georgia and felt compelled to have her church give toward my mission. I’ve never met this woman. I have never even spoken to her. I don’t even have any idea what she looks like. The next weekend was Easter and she called my dad saying that she took up an offering for me on Good Friday and it was $1,000! She said she would take up another offering on Easter and then send me the check. I was totally undone! Amazed by God! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My tuition for my missions school (Iris Ministries Harvest School) was due a couple weeks later and I was exactly $1,000 short so I was overjoyed because this money would pay off my tuition. But the days kept going by and I didn’t receive the check. Then weeks went by and I still didn’t receive it. Next thing I knew it was Tuesday April 24th, the day before the tuition was due. I had been praying and believing for the check to come in time and I was a mess because I knew that if it didn’t come on that day I wouldn’t be able to pay my tuition and possibly not be able to attend the missions school because of it. I was so worried that I could barely eat. But I was praying and trusting God for a miracle, that on Tuesday the check would miraculously come. So I woke up Tues morning and began to pray and declare Gods promises over me and then I just went into a time of worship. As I worshipped worry went away and faith rose up. Then as I was praying in the spirit I saw a check (in the spirit) and it was stuck between heaven and Earth. I know that sounds crazy to some of you haha, sorry. Then I remembered a word that a friend had given me a few nights prior. She had raised over $14,000 for her missions. She told me that she has an angel that takes money from her heavenly bank account and brings it down to her earthly bank account. Then she told me that she was giving the angel to me and she commanded the angel to take everything I need from my heavenly bank account and bring it down to my earthly one. So when I saw that check between heaven and earth I got so excited! I commanded my new angel to bring it down to earth and I started shaking doing a prophetic gesture of using my hands to shake the check from heaven to earth. When I opened my eyes I felt pretty ridiculous hahaha and was happy that no one had seen what I had just did. At the time I hadn’t planned on embarrassing myself by sharing this story on my blog hahaha. Anyway, I picked up my phone and texted my Dad. The text said “I spent the morning with God and I feel His encouragement. He’s giving me grace to believe that the check will come today because He’s good and He loves me and He wants me to go to this school so I can be prepared to mother these children in Cameroon”. About thirty seconds later my dad called me back and excitedly said “I just checked the mail and guess what was in there!” “What!!!” I said. “ A check for you for $1,548” he said. HE IS SO GOOD!!!!!! There are lots more miracles I can tell you about, but I wont because this blog is already very long. But just so you can get an idea, over the past 6 weeks God has provided: my missions school tuition ($2,600), my ticket to South Africa (usually about $1,800), my ticket to Mozambique ($900), my ticket to Cameroon ($913), all my immunizations ($330), my visa app fee for Mozambique ($70), my tent and sleeping bag (gifts from my uncles). I am so very grateful and amazed at His GOODness!! I am such a beloved daughter of such a kind King!!!!!!!!!!! I realize that these miracles happened because YOU my amazing friends, family and supporters were willing to be used by God to make my dreams come true. Thank you! Those two little words never seem sufficient to express my gratitude. But I hope that you know how deeply grateful I am. I always pray that our Father will bless you beyond your wildest dreams in return for your kindness to me. My itinerary looks like this. I leave for South Africa on May 21st. I will spend 10 days there spending time with loved ones there whom I haven’t seen in almost a year! So excited to see Mpho, Joshua, all my friends, my children from Art for Africa, and everyone else! Its going to be so amazing. Then on May 31st I take my last warm shower and leave for Pemba, Mozambique to get totally rocked by God and learn about what love looks like and what it really means to throw your life away to Jesus and let Him use it to serve the poor, the broken, the dying, the lost, and the forgotten. I will be there for two and a half months. After that I will go back to South Africa for 3 more weeks to rest, spend time with my people again, and do a drama and arts workshop for some children with The Fathers Heart church and Kay Lorenz. On Sept 4th I leave for Cameroon where I will be serving in an orphanage and giving my life to loving the children there and by Gods grace raising them up in love for the Lord. I look forward to sharing this journey with you! As my departure date quickly approaches I have some needs that still need to be met. Please let me know if you can help me in any way. PRAYER- • God to bring me spiritual mothers and fathers in Cameroon as well as sisters and brothers so that I have a spiritual family although I won’t be going to a traditional church every Sunday • God to bring me people who are willing to support me monthly while I am working in Cameroon (I’m praying for $400 per month in support) • God to teach me how to mother these children well, and cause me to continue to grow in love for them as I grow in love for Him • God to provide money for my visa for Cameroon ($150) and the other financial obligations I need to meet in the next 3 weeks • For His perfect love to cast all out fear in me and that I will go to Cameroon with boldness and joy and confidence • Humility, humility, humility • Love for Him and more love for Him • Revelation and wisdom PHYSICAL NEEDS- • Pair of long shorts for the beach • Insect repellent • Small notebook computer • Malaria medicine FINANCIAL NEEDS- • Monthly support. Every small amount helps • Visa application fee for Cameroon ($146) • Medical Insurance fee ($150) • Money to have in my bank account when I leave for living expenses and in case of emergency