Hello! First of all, thank you for your continual support in this journey! Whether you’re praying for me, supporting me financially, or just staying updated with everything, I sincerely appreciate your interest in what God is doing with Surrender Uganda. I hope this and all the following newsletters will allow you to go through this journey with me and experience the life changing adventure God has in store for us!
Over the course of the months, I’ve been to several different churches raising funds. At each of the churches I came away blessed in a new way, but the thing that’s really stuck out to me is realizing what it means to be a part of the Family of the Living God. I’ve long considered the people at my home church in Soldier family, and they’ve always acted the part, but through this journey, God has brought to light my spiritual family from all over the world! The churches here in northeast Kansas have stepped up as my siblings in Christ and supported me in many different capacities. I’ve also come into contact with members of God’s family from Missouri, Nebraska, Florida, California, and even Uganda. It’s a small world when God’s in charge!
On the funding side of things, I think God has definitely tested my trust, but He has also shown me His faithfulness. In the first couple months, the funding was coming in a lot slower than I would have liked, but as I get closer to leaving, it seems like every time I turn around, someone is there to support me. As of now, through the faithfulness of our amazing God, I almost have funds (including airline tickets) to stay until around January or February. Our God is so marvelous! He continues to blow my mind as He leads me through this journey. As for the length of my stay, however, He’s still making me trust Him. I happened upon Proverbs 3:5 the other day, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” It’s a pretty familiar verse, you know the kind you put on t-shirts and coffee mugs (good thing too, since I saw it on a coffee mug!), but this particular morning, I took a step back and thought about what that verse really means in my life. It seems like I’ve been over the “trust in the LORD with all your heart” part again and again, but the second part of the verse I like to skip over. The translation I saw on the coffee mug that morning said, “…do not depend on your own understanding.” I don’t know about you, but I often want to hold God’s will up against the “reality” of our world today and see how practical it seems. But here God says not to depend on my own understanding; it doesn’t have to make sense to me because “reality” is found in God, not humans. So really, going to Uganda after high school isn’t practical, and planning a trip without knowing exactly when you’re coming back isn’t practical, but God doesn’t tell us to worry about being practical, He simply calls us to trust Him. The way I see it, God’s got it.
Things You Can Pray For:
-funding
-clarity in the amount of time I’ll be going for
-patience (I want to go now!!)
-preparations for leaving
-the people of Uganda
Things You Can Praise For:
-funding
-success of recent pancake feed
-new relationships with other future missionaries at Empower a Child
-support of Family in Christ
-God’s everlasting faithfulness and love!!
