This semester has been one of God proving His faithfulness over and over again, in so many ways. Regarding YWAM and my fundraising for this DTS- He has rocked my world and hit me upside the head with His faithfulness. He never fails, friends.
He will get you wherever He wants you. No questions asked.
So many times we hear how we have a God who is faithful, and sometimes as Christians I think our language can get thrown around really easily. Until we see this and feel it, our hearts have a hard time believing it.
My biggest fear in committing to YWAM has been the money. How me, a college student, who has no steady job, is going to raise 9,500 dollars. I kept saying, “God- if this is your call for my life, you are going to have to show me that you will get me there”. Funny how seriously God takes that.
Over Christmas break a wonderful Sister and friend suggested we try to plan a ‘benefit concert’ to help raise money for YWAM. So the idea was thrown around and we emailed about 15 different people we thought might be interested and were musically very gifted. Within an hour of this email, EVERY artist responded with a yes. COOL. From the idea of this concert to the actual night, God beautifully orchestrated the entire thing. We easily got an auditorium on Hope campus for free. A friend made BEAUTIFUL posters and hung them up all around campus. A friend graciously offered to help decorate the entire auditorium for the event. She spent countless hours in the art building making things for the night such as wreaths made out of vines, prayer cards, donations box, mason jars used for donations, candle displays, etc. She did a wonderful job. It looked beautiful. Cozy. inviting. warm. So, Friday February 18th came around and we spent the day running around campus getting furniture and last minute stops to make this room what we hoped. We had a blast doing this. We opened the door to Maas auditorium and we thought, “wow, this room is HUGE. bigger than we thought. welp, lets hope people come”. That week was so filled with joy and I was truly overwhelmed with the amount of help my community offered and their willingness to be a part of this. The artists all arrived around 630 to do sound check and make sure everything was alright. They were all pumped. It was beautiful to see a bunch of brothers and sisters standing in this room, filled with JOY and excitement, ready to glorify God and bring His name praise. SUCH WILLING HEARTS. Words cannot even express how thankful I am for these people. I am deeply loved. Everything went smoothly and around 7:10 someone told me that people were waiting outside the doors for this to start. I thought, “what? It doesn’t start until 8″.
It started at 8.THE AUDITORIUM WAS PACKED. Filled. With One God. With freshmen through seniors. Friends. Strangers. A few adults. Smiling faces. Joy-filled laughter. Eager hearts. ALL there for one reason: to further the Kingdom.
The most beautiful thing I took from this night was the picture of the BODY of Christ that I got. This was it. A room packed of brothers and sisters there to support the Kingdom. Willing to give for our God.
Every artist did wonderfully. Played around 3 or 4 songs. A few wrote their own:) There was coffee donated from a local coffee shop, baked goods from some beautiful sisters. A whole lot of smiles and prayers. I have never felt so deeply loved by the body of Christ and confident that I have an army of people who are standing next to me through this journey. A body who is for me. All for the Kingdom.
To bring HIM GLORY.
So, I was hoping for between 800 and 1,000 dollars from that night. An announcement was made before the last band played, that we raised 2,000 dollars. I was in complete awe. and then tears built up. and I stood and let it soak in that GOD PROVIDED that money. That a room of college students just did that in 3 hours. FOR HIS GLORY. The Lord used this night in more ways than I ever thought possible. He is good.
SO. so. good.
Each one of you were MADE FOR GLORY. I am learning that. I am learning how much God really is our provider. He will get us WHEREVER HE WANTS US. Nothing can or will stop Him.
This God that we SO easily put ‘limits’ on is EXPLODING. I think He is laughing right now, at the fact that we are surprised by this. HE DOES WHAT HE WANTS. and He has NO LIMITS. None. We put Him in a box so easily.
That’s gotta stop:)
**Psalm 115
**Isaiah 61
**James 1:17
Be blessed, brothers and sisters.
