Growth

First of all, I’m very sorry that I have not been faithful in keeping my blog updated. A lot has been going on in my world so here’s a synopsis.

McDonalds was pretty rough the first week; I wasn’t given much grace from my coworkers who were supposedly training me. There were a few times I was closed to tears and wanted to run out of my least favorite fast-food restaurant and never return. Thankfully, the Lord knew my weaknesses and provided a friend on project named Shelly to encourage me through work and remind me of our calling to serve God wherever we are.

God has really blessed me with “all the nations” at McDonalds where there are people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Columbia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Croatia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and I’m sure I’m missing one. Working at this McDonalds is like living in a Spanish-speaking country, which has been really helpful for practicing my Spanish. The reason there are so many Europeans is because there are about ten girls doing a work exchange. They are about my age and are really cool girls. I’m excited for our relationships to grow.

My heart towards sharing the Gospel with people I don’t know has being greatly transformed. Whether I am on the beach, on campus at Mesa College, at work, or on the bus it’s so apparent that people aren’t used to talking about spiritual things. It’s like no one has ever asked them their opinion before. Here’s a brief description of what it looks like when I am sharing. If I’m doing a survey, I’ll ask them if they have time for a 5-question survey and if they want to take it I ask them:

1.) What are three words that describe your life?

2.) What is one thing you want to make absolutely sure you do during your lifetime if at all possible?

3.) What do you believe happens after death?

4.) If your best friend came up to you and said, “I want to become a Christian but I don’t know how.” What would you tell him/her assuming that you couldn’t send them to another person or tell them to read a book?

5.) On a scale of 1-10, 10 being high, what is your desire to know God?

From there I tell them that’s they end of the survey, thank them for their time, and ask if I could share with them what I believe. If they want me to, I walk them through the Gospel. I give them answers to how they can have a relationship with Christ and/or get their contact information to set them up with a campus ministry, local church, or further meetings with me if they desire.

I haven’t done the surveys at work but the Lord has been providing me with opportunities to see where my coworkers are at spiritually.

Before project, I hadn’t really shared my faith with anyone and I wasn’t a huge fan of the idea. I saw it as infringing upon others’ personal lives and not necessary; my reasons for not sharing were out of fear—fear that I would offend someone, do a bad job, and make everything awkward. Hopefully you can see that the way I’m approaching them gives them tons of opportunities to turn me away. And people love to talk—about anything. It’s so obvious that our society devalues the majority of any spiritual talk because when I do the surveys with people, most of the time it’s like they’ve never even thought about what might happen after death.

It’s so great to know that regardless of how badly I may stumble through describing the Gospel, their salvation does not depend on anything I could do—it’s totally God working through me. Revelations 3:7 says, “What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.” God is in complete control of every conversation. And for the days I want to go off of my own strength, Psalm 127:1 reminds me that “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”

It was surprising to me to find out that there are more and more people who have never heard the Gospel, which should be reason enough for me to continue sharing. Shouldn’t everyone at least have the opportunity to know and receive the love that God has for him or her? The more I share, the more my amazement of the Gospel grows. “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

I would really appreciate prayer that the Lord would continue challenging me in my relationships with my coworkers, friends, and those I meet. That I would serve Him with boldness. 

The Lord will fight for you

So Wednesday I, and many of other crusaders, applied to many, many stores. We earnestly filled out applications but very few of us were given any promises. I applied and handed out resumes to over 20 locations. But I knew the Lord had a plan for me and our verse for the day was Exodus 14:14--"You only need to remain calm, the Lord will fight for you."

Just a prologue: I have been praying that the Lord would humble me so that I would do nothing short of praise Him for any job--even McDonald's.

 So as Allie, Shelly, and I arduously continued job hunting we stumbled across a "Now Hiring" sign at, of all places, McDonald's. We thought, what the heck, right? So we filled out an application and met the manager, Jody. He said we could come back for an interview tomorrow. 

We sat back down to rest before the next expedition when he came back and said, "I actually have some time now, can you stay for an interview?" Shelly and I both accepted the opportunity and he was really excited about what we were doing this summer. Jody told us he would have to check our availability with his scheduling manager and get back to us in 2 hours. 

We thanked him and when we were no more than 5 minutes away he called us to tell us we had the job! We will start orientation at 3 on Thursday. Needless to say, we had a celebration dance on the sidewalk! It was crazy how much joy God, the amazing provided, gave us through a job at MCDONALD'S! And we will get $9/hr which is more than either of us have either made! The Lord definitely fought for us!

Truly Blessed

As of about May 14th, my financial needs of my trip were about 60% covered. I wasn't really sure how the remaining $1100 would come in but I trusted that the Lord would provide a way for it to be covered. The last day that I spent with two of my friends from school, Kali and Sarah, proved to show off God's ability to provide. 

These beautiful women of God, both inside and out, surrendered their finances to God and I was insanely blessed by their acts of obedience to Him. My friend Kali, is also going on a summer project with Campus Crusade but she is going to South Carolina. The Lord had abundantly provided for her trip and she had received more than enough to cover the project cost. Normally, this extra money would stay within her project, but this huge-hearted, selfless friend of mine called every supporter of the extra money and asked them if she could give their support to my project! Through Kali, the Lord provided over $600! I was shocked, emotionally provoked, and honored by this act of love. 

Along with that, my other gorgeous and kind-hearted friend, Sarah, blessed me with another surrender of her finances. Now, Sarah had already tried to secretly support me by sending me a wad of dough through campus mail, without a return address. It didn't take long for me to confront the right person and let's face it--Sarah is not a good liar :)

So in addition to her secret gift, Sarah had blessed me with over $200. She and I get the same pay check (we work together) so I know this is a pretty big chunk of her paycheck! There are so many things I can think of that she could've used this money for. But instead, she chose to surrender her finances to the Lord and I was so incredibly blessed because of it. 

When I returned home at the end of the semester, the Lord provided the remaining costs I was hoping to raise. Praise God for blessing me with amazing family and friends who have surrendered to Him, that I might again be blessed!

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I hope this blog is continually reminding you of the power of prayer!

An Unexpected Provision

This whole "depending on the Lord to provide financially" thing is VERY new to me. This year, my first year of college, has been a little tight financially. I do have a very part-time job and I'm lucky to make more than $300/month. I have been stressed out lately because I need to buy my plane ticket to San Diego and the rates just keep increasing. I was planning on using my next paycheck to pay for my flight but after I paid my cell phone bill and wrote my tithe check... I had $2 left. I was feeling quite defeated but I prayed, "God, You have made it manifest that You want me on this project. I trust that You're going to provide so, please take this financial burden before I throw a tantrum." Not knowing what God's intentions were AT ALL I proceeded with my evening.
That night I hiked up into my bunk bed and for some reason felt like I should turn my phone on so I could be reached if needed (not usual for me). Nearly unconscious, I felt the tremor of my vibrating cell phone. It was my friend Ashley; she wanted to know if she could run up to my room to talk to me about something. I spelunked out of my bed and greeted my out-of-breath friend. In record time she managed to update me on what the Lord had been doing in her heart from the time I asked our bible study to pray about my support raising and traveling to when she called me.
Apparently, Ashley and another friend, Katy, had a flight voucher that they had kept trying to use for the last several months. However, every time they planned to use it, something came up. Ashley claimed, "It's so obvious why it never worked out. The Lord had much bigger plans!"
By this time I'm trying to hold the joyful sobs in.
"Whitney, Katy and I want to support you with our plane ticket!"
Oh! My! Goodness! I was so astounded by how God provides for those who trust in Him!

From there, I was able to book a plane ticket at the Fargo Airport, to fly out of Rapid City! Not only that, but another friend will be able to sit next to me on the flight from Denver to San Diego! We will be able to accompany each other for our arrival! 

And because I won't have to raise extra support for transportation, I am currently at 60% for the amount I need for project. The Lord is GREAT!