Jehovah-jireh

Hello once again!
So this past week was pretty laid back for a change (well as laid back as I think it'll be for awhile). On Monday and Tuesday morning we had our Theology class and then for the rest of the week we were finishing up some of our assignments for the Theology of Mission class we had a couple weeks ago. The Theology class was quite interesting... I may sound like a geek but pretty much my favorite part of Kaleo besides being surrounded with 27 other people with very different personalities and interests is the classes. I love learning about God's character and his Word. This past week in class we talked about truth and what is it and how can we find it? Then we learned how to apply that to how we read God's word and to determine what the purpose of what we read really is. We discussed a lot about how in the past generations faith was based on intellect and now our faith has had more of a focus on touching our emotions. One of Lech's statements that I found to be interesting was "In coming to the Bible the we need to understand that the fundamental question is “what truth about God do I need to understand in order to respond to it with our will?” We should be responding to the Bible with our will and not just out mind or our emotions but there should be a life-altering transformation that comes from reading the scripture and that really resonated with me. Besides that thought of the week one major theme that God has been re-introducing to me is his love. During the week of prayer I spent some time pondering the question on "how do I show God that I love him?" and one of the answers came really easy which was by obeying his commands. Well this week God taught me more on how he shows that he loves me..now you might ask how he did this...well... This week I found out that basically all of my funds for India had come in! Now for the trek I needed to raise $3,200 and I had no idea how I was ever to come up with that kind of money. I was so prepared to work at a job that I wouldn't like for the summer in order to pay off the debt that I thought was surely going to come. Well God miraculously provided for me and taught me so much about his provision. I had struggled with the idea of sending out letters for support or even asking my church to support me because I don't like feeling that I am burdening people by asking for their support. Well at Christmas I had a conversation with our Life Leader Kristie and she told me that by not asking I could be inhibiting people who have the gift of giving to use their gifts. Now I took this lightly and brushed it off when I heard it even though I nodded to make it look like it made sense. But during the holiday I knew there was no other way than to ask my church to support me once again. Then Ta-da God really stepped in and he totally did provide the funds even though I didn't expect him to. When we had our meeting this past week we had a update and I am all set. I was so shocked as I didn't know why this would happen as I didn't expect God to provide in this way but more so that I would need to provide it yet he did. Also there are so many others on my team who do not have a way of raising their money and are still struggling to get the funds to go and they are counting on God to provide yet me out of my own arrogance and pride thought that I could do it all my own. When discussing this with my leader Jim he had mentioned "God didn't provide because you needed it, or because you deserved it, but God provided because he loves you." Through it God really shaped my view of provision. I learned more about how God uses people to give. Now this may sound very lame but I always saw giving as something a person does and that God has nothing to do with it. But when looking at these funds I received for India there is no way I could say that God didn't have his hand in giving this money. Even though I know what people may have gave for me to go it was God who softened their hearts to give. My thinking was transformed through this and I'm starting to understand more and more why God did it, because he loves me and he wanted to teach me more about his provision and what it means. Now changing tones again, this past weekend was Missions Fest. It was a good time as our whole school went to Vancouver for it and it was a good time to get to know each other more and get out of camp! It was so encouraging to walk through some of the halls and see so many missions organizations who are devoted to discipleship and reaching the unreached and training them. It was also exciting to go to some seminars and hear from the students what God has been stirring in their hearts. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I said that missions fest was definitely a thought-provoking time. Our India team went to a seminar on slavery in India and it was very enlightening to see and hear of what the people are going through with the cast system and such. It was heart breaking to see the oppression and the devastation that people are going through and that that's where we'll be going. Also we were able to go to a Hindu Temple and Muslim Mosque when we were there and we were taught by the priests or whatever they were called about their religion. It really gave me a sense on how huge God is and how wonderful he is. Also it really showed the emptiness and brokenness that people are living with in believing in these false gods and idols made by human hands and being oppressed by it. It definitely gave me lots to chew on as I think about how we will be entering a world full of oppression and hurt and it got me excited to be able to go there and to shine Jesus to them and to show by our actions the hope we have in Jesus. So that is just a glimpse at what I've been learning, honestly last semester I was struggling in feeling that I wasn't learning or changing but this semester I have been amazed at the many things God has been bringing to my attention. It has been quite the journey this far, a very challenging one but nonetheless a amazing one to go through. So as far as prayer requests go, if you could pray for our India team. Myself and one other has the funds to go however we have 12 who are still in need of support. So if you could pray that God would give them peace and that he would provide in his way and that we wouldn't impose our ideas of provision but that God would continue to transform our views as we go through this. Also this next week is OT literature so if you could pray for us as we go through that class that God would open our eyes to the amazing things to be found in the OT that would be great! Thanks once again for your prayers!