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