Preparation by Rejection

It's been far too long since I last posted, but lately things have just been so hectic! My days and weeks fly by. Lately, I've been getting rather bogged down with some pretty silly (to say the least) 'homework' and despite the bulk of it being due all on one day (how lame!), this Wednesday, I'm praying I will get a nice break for the rest of the week, at least until next week.

Though I've been so busy with work and just life in general, I try to remind myself daily as to why I'm here: to grow deeper in a relationship with Him and prepare for my destiny. However at times I feel I'm not able to spend as much time as I want with the Lord because of my ridiculous schedule, but I know this is only preparing me for life after college and teaching me to better manage my time.

Last week I found out I received another scholarship! I started school down here with a remaining balance of roughly $3000 and was unsure as to where the money was going to come from. Although God had told me last year that He would fully provide for my college expenses, one gets a little nervous when you're 4 weeks into school and still owe $3000 with no payment plan set up or loan taken out to cover the balance. The scholarship I received last week was from a scholarship organization that had sent me a rejection letter back in July. They wrote me last week to tell me that additional funds had become available and that I had been reconsidered and selected to receive the scholarship, which was $3000. I love how God works, even though in our eyes it seems late or ill-timed, it's always on His time which is always on time.

Last year during my senior year in high school, I applied to nearly 50 scholarships. I heard back from about 15 of them, 12 of them telling me I was not selected. The rest, I never heard from. Oddly enough, I kept every rejection letter as a way of reminding myself of what God promised - that He would provide fully. As I sat in my Missionary Life & Work class last week, Dr. Prevette was discussing connecting with churches and their members and fundraising in general. As I sat there listening to him tell experiences he had gone through as a full-time missionary in raising support among churches and how often many churches would never reply to his calls or how he would be denied financial support, the Lord took my mind back to the folder of rejection letters I had sitting in my desk in my room and whispered to me: As I'm providing for you, I'm teaching you to learn to press on in the face of rejection so that you will not put your trust in getting financial support from churches, but instead put your trust in Me who will provide all your needs. After that realization, I thanked the Lord for all those rejection letters as they were a way of preparing me to trust in the Lord to provide for me as I move to the mission field and ask for financial support from back home.

I thank God for all my supporters and support base who pray for me, think about me, and financially support me when I go overseas. They are an integral part of my ministry and without their support, I know I would not be where I am today. I pray that they would continue to remain open to how the Lord leads and that in turn they would be greatly blessed.

Have a blessed week in the Lord.