God's resounding reply--YES, WITH MY HELP! And His first bit of help came in the form of an email from a friend with this blog address: http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/. I pray that you find time in your busy life to read every single entry Katie has written. Her words are honest, biting, challenging, uplifting, heartbreaking and utterly FULL of faith. God used these words to speak these Truths to me:
-It will be harder than you can ever imagine, and yet I will be there, I will guide you and I alone will bring you JOY in the midst of the struggle
-The work you will join Me in is not glamorous--it is thankless, dirty, never-ending
-I am more than enough for you, your every need and every desire and the adventure I wish to invite you to join me in is going to change you forever
-My children, every child in Costa Rica, is waiting for you--waiting to hear what you will tell them about Me, waiting to see what a life with Me looks like
-YOU ARE MINE, YOU ARE LOVED
Man, did I need to hear that! And it was the swiftness with which He brought that message that confirmed to me, and all the many other ways He continues to confirm to me, that I am called to love kids who desperately need to hear of God's love. And that while God can and would use any extreme measure to communicate this to these kids, He's chosen ME. How unbelievably humbling!
So, back to those four words. I really encourage you to read Katie's blog post from today (June 28th). I've missed her...weird, because I don't even know her. But she hasn't posted recently, and I've missed her. This post blew me away. I sit here struggling to attack the fundraising process with the passion with which I love God and love lost kids and here He challenges me: Do you approach the process leading up to your time in Costa Rica with the same sense of URGENCY with which Katie sought to bring Patricia home with her? You see, loved one, said God, I love you with that urgency, I love the kids you will work with in Costa Rica with that urgency, and you must have that same urgency!
So, I fall before God and you, my dear friends, family and supporters who have faithfully walked alongside me in this journey over the past year and I URGENTLY ask you to help me fulfill the remaining 25% of my budget so that I can join Jessie and Boo in Costa Rica for the start of the school year in August. With a heaven perspective, I am URGENT because there are kids in Costa Rica who have never hear the name Jesus, never heard that He loves them, and have never had the opportunity to join Him on the greatest adventure! With an earthly perspective, I am URGENT because international schools in Costa Rica lost two interns and a full-time staff in June (they returned to the US) and that leaves just two staff for kids who attend Young Life from four schools--not NEARLY enough when we have 12 dedicated, loving volunteers at Westfield High School alone! And also because we moved Wyldlife camp (camp for middle schoolers) to the Fall, which means we begin the day that school starts building relationships with new kids to invite them to the best weekend of their life to hear the greatest love story ever told!
So I ask you with URGENCY, please join me by:
(1) Sharing with me the names/contact info. of 3-5 friends who would like to hear the amazing ways God is working through Young Life in Costa Rica and invite them to be a part of it!
(2) Host a dessert event to invite your friends, family, neighbors to hear in person more about Young Life Costa Rica
(3) If you already support me and Young Life in Costa Rica, prayerfully consider increasing that gift by $10, 20, 30/month or even doubling your gift! God is blessing you so that you can bless others. Is He calling you to be a bigger part of what He's doing in Costa Rica?
(4) Prayerfully consider asking your church to partner with Young Life Costa Rica and then call your Pastor and call me!
(5) PRAY. Pray for God to intercede, to lead me to those who He has prepared to be a part of this support team, and to provide for the rest of the funding by August!
(6) Got another (even better!) idea? Send it my way...I would love to hear it!
Thank you, thank you a million times over for your love, support and friendship. And thank you for your sacrifice.
P.S. I was just looking up the word "urgent" in the Bible and found it in a really cool place.
"The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace." -Daniel 3:22-23
As the story goes, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of the people to bow down and worship him. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or Rack, Shack and Benny from VeggieTales) refused to worship anyone but God. So, the King had them thrown into a fiery furnace, but when the King looks in he sees four people walking around and then Rack, Shack and Benny are removed from the fire without one hair on their head burned! What's even cooler is what they said before the King threw them in the fire:
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." -Daniel 3:17-18
Wow! Talk about guts! Moral of the story: There will always be "Kings" in our lives calling us to bow down something other than God--in the lives of international school kids it is wealth, success, need for attention, partying, etc. And this King was URGET, so God calls us to be URGENT as well--URGENT to share His story, His hope, His life and the life He is offering each one of us.
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