The best thing that happened this week...

Okay, since no one else has posted about Cami's latest question and I just found out about Cami's question, I'm jumping in and laying it all out on the table. It's time to brag on God.

For the month of September, the Lord provided $960 total from the 1st to the end of the month. That's pretty sweet in and of itself, considering how awesome it is to see the amounts going up in tntMPD.
Recently, because I'm a B, I recieved my contribution report. Actually, I got it on the 19th. Up until that point, from Monday to Thursday, I was checking it about twice a day to see if my report had come in yet. I'm sure you ALL know what that's like, right?

Recap: Total for September was $960.

I see at the top of the Crystal Report Viewer page this number: $4,225.00.
"That can't be a real number..." I said, not believing at all what I was seeing. So I scroll down the page, look at all the contributors until I hit the bottom of the page.

The number was the same, my friends. $4,225.00. WHAT???
Now before we get too excited, that's not a monthly deal, just what came in with two brand-spankin' new annual gifts, a handful of one-time gifts, and a handful of monthly gifts. Guys and gals, brothers and sisters, can I tell you something that isn't really that big of a secret? GOD. IS. AWESOME!!

If you're feeling down and out because you're struggling with support, here's a story for you. Since I got back from New Staff Training, I had struggled on and off quite a bit with raising support. Not in the sense that it was too awful for me to ask people, but in the sense that I kept hitting voicemail, after voicemail, after voicemail, after voicemail for the same people. Far too many of the people I know are my own age, and are either still in college or have just recently graduated college and have no steady income. My church is a hard place to go to for support because my church is a church-plant in a small community. I was getting discourged because I thought I was beginning to run out of options.
Because I thought I was running out of options, I got even more discouraged and sometimes would question if this was the place God wanted me to be. I wanted to work with art students in Philadelphia for Jesus' sake, and I still want it in such a terrible way. Despite discouragement and doubt, I kept making phone calls and sending out letters and emails. God's been providing all the way, which has encouraged me abundantly. This time around though? It's kind of like God was saying to His kid down here on earth, "And you thought I wasn't going to provide for you..."

Listen up, guys, because GOD IS GOOD, and GOD WILL PROVIDE! Jesus said that if we believe that we already have what we ask for, He will give it. I'd been praying that the Lord would provide in amazing ways, whether it got me out to Philadelphia by November, or in six months. I resolutely have decided that I don't care how long it actually takes, I want to serve the LORD and reach out to art students for Him.
September left me with about 18-ish%.
I figured out the math, and I'm pretty bad at math, but if I'm right then just half of this month the Lord bumped that up to about 33%.

God will provide for all of us. Ask Him to provide, believe that He will (and HAS), and keep chugging through phone calls and letters!!! Continue to be faithful to your ministry and do the support raising that allows you to DO ministry. If God provided for me in such a big way, and I don't deserve it, I know He's going to provide for you in a big way too!