A summer update

Some of you are probably wondering what I've been up to this whole summer, if I've been in training or if I've started work yet...or perhaps more simply, where I've been. I was in Atlanta for a bit before moving to my apartment in NYC, where God has blessed me with an amazing roommate who loves the Lord. I've taken the summer off to focus on developing my team of ministry partners for the year, and I cannot start working until I have raised 100% of my financial support. By the grace of God, I'm on track to finish on time (by Aug 1....which is this Saturday). Along the way, he's taught me quite a bit about his faithfulness, and about money.

Faithfulness
When I first got my financial support goal during training in April, I was freaking out -- where on earth was all that money going to come from?? And then it was as if God took me by the shoulders, shook me, and demanded that I look at him in the eyes. The conversation went something like:

"Jess. Jess. JESS! Stop. What did I do for your last summer [when you needed to raise support for Summer Project]?"
(sheepishly) "You provided everything I needed...and more."
"So what do you think I'm going to do for you this year? Leave you hanging?"
"...No..."
"That's right. Stop freaking out. I've got this under control, ok?"
"ummm....ok..."

I don't know why I ever doubted that God would take care of me, or that he would somehow leave me without support after asking me to follow him for a year. But he has never ceased to amaze me, and he has not let me down yet. He has stirred up my home church to rally around me enthusiastically, even people I barely know. He has provided me with housing with an amazingly godly woman, found ways to reduce my support goal (a lower rent than anticipated and MetroCards instead of car payments). God is GOOD!

But as with most things in life, it's all about balance -- I need to stop freaking out, but I also can't be lazy about doing my part in sharing my story, calling people, writing letters, etc.

Money
Along with God's faithfulness, one of the most profound things I've learned this summer is that money...is only money. It is not magical; it cannot provide security; it is unstable. Literally everything I have is from the Lord, moving in people's hearts to give. It was definitely a humbling realization that none of this is anything that I earned in my own right or deserved, but freely given from God.

Over and over, God continually reminds his people of his provision:

• "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1)
  
• "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him" (Lamentations 3:24)
• "Look at the birds in the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ... Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these ... Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What share we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ...your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:26-33)
  
• "He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
  
• "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19)

Finally, it is my hope and prayer that I will remember these lessons that I have learned this summer, remember that the Lord alone is all I need, and that in him, I have enough.