Faithful

God is so faithful.  Really, really blowin-my-mind faithful.  

On Thursday I wrote a post asking for more help with getting my man Heath funded because he has a matching $450 grant that ends September 1st.  We just got back from camping and I ran to the computer right away to check on our progress.  Forget about showering, draining coolers, sorting laundry...I gotta check on my boy!  

Low and behold...Heath has already exceeded his matching grant by $214!!!!!!! 

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!!

I was shocked and awed.  God's faithfulness to one 11-year old half a world away is almost too good to be true. 

Honestly, I shouldn't be surprised at God's faithfulness and provision for Heath.  I really shouldn't.  But you see, God's got me on this crazy journey of learning to trust Him to meet needs and not looking to my own abilities or gifts to meet the needs myself.  He just keeps surprising me!

Jed and I set aside August as our month dedicated to seeking God's face about our next steps toward Ukraine.  We knew God wanted us to keep taking steps, but we were feeling a bit aimless.  We are expecting God to speak this month and He's pulling through!  (Imagine that!)  ;)  We each decided to fast something this month and I knew God was asking me to step out of the facebook world for the month of August as a "fast".  Why facebook?  Don't people usually fast food?  Well, God knew I had something to learn, so that's what He asked of me.  

When us Northwest gals started promoting our push for Heath we used facebook as a big resource for getting the word out.  Social media rocks for things like that.  Unfortunately, we didn't get the response we were hoping for.  There was very little interest in our September fundraiser for our boy.  I was pretty disappointed.  Actually, I knew in that moment I was a little too disappointed.  I took it personally.  Hmmm....what's wrong with that picture?  I'll tell you what was wrong!  I was promoting it in my own strength, trusting in my ability to 'catch people's attention'.  A good response to Heath was a good response to me.  

EEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!  Blech!  Gag. Yuck.

That is just icky.  Yep, it's God who is providing for Heath- not Kim.  It is God who gets all the glory- not Kim.  I knew God was asking me to step aside from facebook so that He could show me who's boss.  There are plenty of people who are getting the word out for Heath on their blogs and facebooks and God is using it all for His glory.  This isn't an anti-facebook post because great things have come from advocacy on facebook, and once my fast is up I hope to return to advocacy using that forum.  God just knew my heart, and He knew I needed to see Him show His power in a way where I couldn't claim any of the victory for myself.  I really love how He works.

Seeing Heath's grant grow and grow makes my heart want to burst.  Since I can't get the word out on facebook I have done so much more face-to-face promoting of my boy.  It has been sweet- and necessary.  Seeing people's eyes light up when they hear about what God is doing is priceless.  More and more eyes are being opened to the plight of these children we love so much and that is also priceless.

This heart issue that God and I are working out is a biggie.  It will be huge when we start to raise support for our family.  I need to learn these lessons now.  I need to remember that Jed and I are not the breadwinners for our family- Jesus is, and He can do a much better job of it than we could hope to do.

So, thank you every single one of you who gave.  Thank you to every one of you who passed the word.  Our work isn't done yet, but things are definitely moving right along.  September 15th is coming up and I can't wait to see what GOD does.  :)

To God be all the glory for the great things He has done!!!