It's been a rough week. I am not lying to you when I say that I am ready for this week to be over. It's been a culmination of a myriad of stresses that has now taken a turn for the worst and has manifested itself as some sort of nasty cold.

I've been sitting here tonight, reviewing the last week in my mind--my struggles to maintain faith that this budget can be raised; the challenge of trying to come up with effective fund-raising ideas; the oversleeping that made me late for work and threw off a day completely; the pain I unintentionally caused a close friend; the excitement I feel for others as they set off on new adventures; and the sadness I feel because I want to do that, too.

And as I replayed those things in my head, I easily imagined the burning in my throat as a miniature monster (I immediately envisioned a pint-sized Edward Scissorhands) trying to claw his way out of my throat.

Sadness.

And then, I thought whoa, now. This attitude is not okay. Yes, it's been a rough week. Yes, I am legitimately allowed to feel sad and frustrated by some of the things that have happened recently. But I am not allowed to sit here and wallow and be miserable--even if the rain outside is the perfect soundtrack to my melancholy.

Then I was reminded of the "Desert Song" by Hillsong United. The bridge in that song goes,

All of my life, in every season, You are still God, and I have a reason to sing. I have a reason to worship.

I cannot control the situations or circumstances around me. I cannot control when alarm clocks don't go off, the influx of $58,410, or the emotions of the people in my life.

BUT that's no excuse to sit around in some pensive and tragic period of mourning.

Because all of my life, in every season--good, bad, stressful, joyful, dry, rich, whatever--God is still God. He's still sovereign. He's still good. He's still holding me in his perfect hands and guiding me through his perfect plan. And because God is still God, I have a reason to sing.

Whatever life throws at me, it's always appropriate for me to worship God.

So what do I do now? Well, now I surrender this week and everything it brought with it. I lay it all down at the feet of Jesus and focus the rest of my energy on singing for the one person who created my voice from dust and wove it together in my mother's womb.

It's been a rough week, yes. But I have a reason to sing.


Click here to listen to "Desert Song"

So Far...

How it's going...

xoxo,
Ariel

19 Big Days.

Can you believe it's October? I love it. It's brisk and absolutely beautiful. The high today is only 56ºF, and the sun keeps poking through the clouds. It's pretty much perfect.

I've officially been fund-raising now for about 2 months, and in those 2 months, I've raised about 13% of my annual budget and about 3% of my start-up costs--which somehow comes to about 9% of my TOTAL budget...(hmm, not sure how that works--Math has never been my forte). This is a good start--but I still have so far to go. And that has been something that I'm struggling with a lot. I am so ready to be back in Portugal, and the money seems to be coming in so slowly. This weekend at church, I was reminded of how big God is. I had been reading in Psalm 136 of all the huge things that God has done. He's parted the Red Sea and led the Israelites out of Egypt; He's saved Jonah from the belly of a whale and Daniel from a den of lions; He's rescued his people from furnaces and slavery. That's a big God.

We had a guest speaker at our church this weekend, and one of the scriptures he used was Romans 8:31-33, "So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us?" (The Message) God is Huge. He's done so many miracles and even sent his own Son for us. What else wouldn't he gladly and freely do for us?

I know that there are many ways one can adopt this promise. And I see it in my own life--in so many different ways. But right now, I'm also adopting it as I fundraise. I believe that God has called me to Portugal for a specific purpose and reason. I also believe that he is more than capable of sending me there (I mean, seriously, look at his track record). There are 19 days left in October. I've been told that this is one of the most productive months in the history of Young Life fundraising. I'm believing that God can and will do big things in the next 19 days--and I can't wait to witness His provision.

I'd love it if you'd pray with me :) Thanks!!

xoxo
Ariel