Jehovah Jirah

Ok...so I have no idea if I spelled that right or if I picked the right name, but I meant to title this post about our Lord the Provider!

Yesterday I started going through the devotional that AIM provides for the teams. It's actually really good. It starts three weeks prior to the trip and ends three weeks after we come home and has some great daily devotionals as well as thoughts about cross cultural ministry and such. As part of yesterday's devotional, we were challenged to write about all the ways that the Lord has provided for this trip up to this point. In order to give him all the glory he deserves, I thought I would share with you the incomplete list that I came up with in no particular order:

God's leading to AIM with my trip to Kenya...I knew nothing about them then

My leaders from my Kenya trip who were so impactful in my own life that I wanted to do the same for others

Those same leaders having enough faith in my ability to encourage me to do this and to recommend me to AIM

Letting my application process finally work out (after months of uncertainty)

Giving me clear direction to Swaziland over Kenya

Letting this work so that the trip was a time that I could go!

My parents being willing to let me go (even though they aren't quiet about their misgivings...they still support me no matter what)

Keeping me healthy enough to be able to go

Putting our team and leaders together...I can already see his purpose in this group!

The job that literally fell into my lap that is giving me exactly the money that I need to pay for the balance of my trip

All of my supporters who have allowed God to use them to make this trip possible!...Their support is more of a blessing that they can know!

All of the people who have wanted to pray for me and my team...some that don't even know me! God has overwhelmed me with the love that he has shown me through others in the past few weeks as I prepare to go!

I know that this is only the beginning of what the Lord is going to do in my life, my teammates lives, and the lives of those in Swaziland! He is soo good! Yesterday as I was praying, I was lifting all of my anxieties about this trip and about leading, and God gave me this great picture of me standing facing the horizon and Christ walking up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. I felt so safe, that I just melted into him as I gave my fears up. It reminded me of the way a husband lovingly wraps himself around his wife as they both stare in the same direction looking forward to what lies ahead. How beautiful our Lord is!

One final thought: as I was reading yesterday in the devotional, it talked about Psalm 121. It's such a beautiful word of provision and protection that I would like to share it with you in closing for you to meditate on for your own lives and how God cares for you in the everyday!

Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Tomorrow...I will talk about abiding in the Lord. Have a fantastic day as you abide in HIM!