quotes

"What we do in secret determines the soundness of who we are in public. Prayer is the secret work that develops a life that is thoroughly authentic and deeply human." - Eugene Peterson

"Our trust is not rooted in false hope or fanciful dreams. Our confidence in the Lord's love for us and His all-powerful hand resides in who He is and what He has done in our lives." - David Hoffeditz

The Lord is urging me toward a greater prayer life and a greater understanding of His great love for me. I'm thankful for these two reminders...

Belgium Here I Come...

The Lord is AWESOME! November 15th is still 20 days away and I'm at 50% of my monthly support! Honestly 11 days ago I was not thinking I was going to get to Belgium for prefield training in January and now it looks totally doable! I still need for some more one-time support to come in to cover my costs, but I am confident that I will get there. Thank you to everyone who has given so generously!

In other news on the training front, I am currently reading a book called "They Were Single Too" by David Hoffeditz. Contrary to what you might think after my last post, I am put off by anything with the word single in the title. So, to be honest, I have put off reading this book for awhile. I just expect books about singleness to be cheesy and honestly unhelpful. Well, there are a couple reasons I've appreciated this book so far... one... it's written by a man. There isn't much out there written on singleness from men's point of view, so it's been nice to have that insight. Also, he quoted my favorite article (see last post) in the first chapter, so I can't hate it! :) I'm not done yet, but so far I'm enjoying it as the author goes through basically a study of the lives of 8 Bible characters and pulls out applications for me at this time of life.

This week I have three support meetings, so please pray for those times to be encouraging and fruitful.

Singled Out...

Today's post has basically nothing to do with Honduras... the Lord is still being faithful to provide support... thanks to you all who are responding by giving! I will update more about that later.

Really I just wanted to share today the single most helpful thing that I have read in the last couple of years relating to singleness and the Lord and how those two things relate. I don't think that I am alone in saying that I struggle with the questions of why as they relate to my current marital status. And I can answer some of them quite well. I have loved my job over the past four years, I loved my community in college, I have grown to love the Lord and depend on Him on ways that I never would have, who knows if I would be going on the mission field if I were married at this time, etc. But even having some of the answers doesn't always stop the questions...

So the real answer. I am single right now because God is so good to me.

If you're single or not, I encourage you to read this article and be reminded of and encouraged by the character of the God that we worship who loves us and is GOOD to us!

http://www.unc.ruf.org/site_content/attachments/0000/1199/Singled_out_for_Good.pdf

13 in 31

It's kind of cool how those numbers worked out :) I am writing to day with a plea. In order to make it to prefield training in January, I need for 13% more of my monthly pledges to come in over the course of the next 31 days. I have to be 50% funded in monthly pledges to be able to sign up. I also have to have a couple thousand more dollars in one-time gifts in this same time frame. So, if you have been considering supporting me, please go ahead and send in your pledge cards and one time gifts. If you are already supporting me or are unable to at this time, please pray with me that this money will come in by November 15th!

I do have a great update for you in terms of trees :) I am now at 37% of my monthly pledges... praise the Lord! Thank you all for your partnership!

this one is for Amy

So... Amy wants an update:) I told her I don't really have anything new and exciting to say, but here goes nothing. Last week was a week full of support meetings and presentations. I really love getting to talk to people about what the Lord is doing and how He is moving my heart towards Honduras. This past week, my team met in Honduras to come up with a plan to move forward in ministry there... I'm excited that one day in the not too distant future, I will be there and a part of their ministry!! I got a little overwhelmed one day saying that I hope to go to language school in April... it's just not that far away! Crazy.

Support raising update... the Lord is so good. I have 33% of my monthly support pledged! Hooray for being a third of the way there! Thanks to all my new supporters!

Please continue to pray for the Lord to raise up new supporters. I need to have at least 50% of my monthly support by mid-November to go to pre-field training. And I have received about $3500 toward my special gifts/one-time support. My goal for that is $30,000 and I have to have most of it before pre-field training... so pray for that to come in also. I don't want to be caught up in money... I'm just thankful for the Lord's provision in SO many ways! He is faithful!

Here are some fun pictures of my small group from the Living in Grace training. I really loved getting to know these women! I'm so excited to see the Lord working in each of their lives. It's going to be fun to stay connected with each other and encourage each other on the field. And many thanks to Dee and Sue, our small group "moms" for loving us so well and giving us so much of their Godly wisdom!