Shout out to my Game of Thrones fans! Okay so now that I've got your attention with my oh so catchy title, which I will go into later, first thing is first: logistical stuff! I have about 32% of my full budget raised for my internship! Yay! But clearly, I still have a little ways to go... SO that being said, I need to have 90% of my budget by the end of the month, if you were planning to help me out financially: THIS IS IT! Now is the time! See that little tab up there that says "Ways to Give"? Click on it, it'll give you all the info you need to easily go online, fill out a form, and help me get to France! If you are wanting to know more about my finances, there is an info tab called "My Budget" so check that one out as well, and if you want more of a breakdown of my budget, feel free to e-mail me, and I'll send you a spreadsheet. And if you're new here, first of all WELCOME! Second, check out the "Internship" and "Why France?" tabs! You can get the lowdown on what I'm talking about, and what I'll be doing as a missionary intern in France!
Okay, so about that title. It's a line from Game of Thrones (I watch the show, about to start the books. I'm a pretty big fan.... which you know well if we're friends on facebook or you follow me on pinterest....). But I think it's kind of a true statement in a sense. Often times the dark offers fear, we hear things that may, or may not be the house creaking, but let's examine why it is the night is full of terror (because, well the darkness is kind of obvious...). It's because one of our senses is taken away. We cannot see. Not being able to see, well it's pretty scary if you weren't born without sight! Suddenly our other senses are heightened, and we can hear things that can sound pretty terrifying, we can feel things crawling on our arms... It can be pretty scary! Even if we are safely tucked in our beds, have five bolt locks on our doors, with a five star crazy awesome alarm system, two dogs, a cat, and weapons beside the bed. We could be totally safe in every way, but take away our sight, and we can start to panic. Well, obviously I have a deeper spiritual point to this, and it's this: blindly following God is just as scary! Sometimes, God will ask us to do things that scare us because we are stepping out into the unknown! Take Moses for instance: God asked him to go to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Moses, who was happily married and tending sheep out in the desert, came up with every excuse why he couldn't do it. Can you blame him? God was asking him to go back to the place where he was wanted for murder, talk to the most powerful man in the WORLD at the time, and TELL him to let God's people go. A people who probably weren't his biggest fans considering he had been raised by the very people that had enslaved them and ordered the death of their young sons.Oh, and on top of all that, he was hearing all of this from a burning bush. But God, quite forcefully reminded him, He was God. He created man, He was in charge of the universe, and He was calling Him to this purpose. He knew how it would end, and it was Moses that He wanted, not Aaron, not some other Israelite, but MOSES. How could Moses not obey? But could you imagine how terrified he must have been? Even when God had shown Him His power, Moses could not foresee Pharaoh's reaction, he had to trust that God knew what Pharaoh's reaction would be. He had to trust that God would work everything out.
Well, while I am not about to go tell Pharaoh to let God's people go, God has called me. He has called me to take the gospel to Marseille. So I'm stepping out in faith, in the belief that even though things look unlikely, He WILL provide the finances. It's scary. It's unnerving. But it's exciting! Because now I get to see God work in miraculous ways! And I cannot wait to see what He does, not just for me, but for all of the interns going out this fall! Trusting God is scary, because our sight is taken from us, but realizing that the One that is guiding us knows everything that will happen, that He loves us more than we know, and that He will guide us to what is best for us, well it's like shining a night light in that dark room. We can't see everything, but we can see Him, and we know that He will keep us safe.
I leave you with this: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
