Just this last September, I invited many of you to participate in praying with me for financial provision. I firmly believe that the Lord is my provider and that He desires for me to be free from the bondage debt can bring. Though I appreciate people praying on my behalf, this "project" was more to invite others to witness God's miraculous hand at work. I hoped that it would remind and encourage you to be confident and specific in your prayers as well. He has been providing for me in large amounts, but even in that I still need encouragement. I prayed last night that the Lord would encourage me as I felt the doubt seeping in. Worry of the next miraculous provision not coming and how that could potentially cause others to doubt or stumble... Early this afternoon I received this email from a good friend of mine. He has given me permission to share it with all of you as I believed it might continue to extend encouragement to those who read it.
EMAIL:
I wanted to share a story about how you encouraged me and you didn't even know it. A couple of months a go you included me in your email to ask for prayer that you would be debt free by the end of the year. In your letter you said you had school debt. I don't remember the actual number but I remember it being astronomical.
Upon reading your email I thought to myself, yeah right, probably not gonna happen, but I prayed for you anyway, but was honestly very skeptical, and then your first update came in. You told us about a check or gift that had come in that was totally unexpected and it was for a sizeable amount. I thought to myself well that is awesome, but she still has so far to go, but I will keep praying because Tricia has asked me to. Later that night I got to thinking, what if I started praying for God to get me out of debt by the end of the year. So I skeptically and apprehensively asked Him to, with the expectation that it probably wouldn't happen. I have never been a person who gets unexpected checks sitting in my mailbox, or random people saying hey here is a hundred bucks so honestly when I hear stories like that I take it with a grain of salt and never expected it to happen to me.
Anyway, over the weeks and months since then I have been occasionally asking God to help me pay off my debt, totally forgetting, until today, that I asked Him to help me pay it off by the end of the year. Also since then I had become very strict about tithing. Every check that came in whether it was 20.00 dollars or 2,000 the very first thing I did was tithe and then saved 10%. At the time my checks were much smaller so it was easy to tithe 20 bucks and save 20 bucks, who cant do that right? Also in the recent months I have been listening and reading stuff by Dave Ramsey, a Christian Financial Advisor, he puts on a class called Financial Peace University, and has written a couple books.
So the months have gone by, I sold one of my classic cars (my baby), the work has been POURING in, and I have been implementing the "baby steps" that I learned with Dave Ramsey. A couple months a go I paid off about 2,000 in State Taxes, last month I cleared a 7,900 debt that I had with a credit card, and this month I am clearing another 7,100 debt I had with another credit card and after clearing this last card, I will be DEBT FREE! Not only debt free, but also a small savings left over.
Today as I was doing my bills and getting ready to pay off this last card I thought, man God it seems like all of this happened so fast, all this debt was over 2 years old and I hadn't made a payment on any of it since October of 2008 and now it is paid off in a matter of months. And then you popped in my mind and I remembered your challenge to God, which then made me remember my request I had asked Him to be debt free by the end of the year. And I am just floored. I totally forgot that I had even asked Him to help me be debt free by the end of this year and He did it. As I was going through the process I was just praying God get me out of debt, and totally forgot the time frame I asked Him for. So despite all of my doubting and cynicism God answered my prayer anyway.
I just wanted you to know that you played a part in this journey without even knowing it, just by sharing your journey with me. I don't know how all this hits you or where you are at but I hope it encourages you!!
Scotty
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Youth Ministry
I am so incredibly grateful for the education that I am receiving here at Biola University. I am surrounded by incredible present and future youth workers and I am encouraged every day knowing that these are the type of people being sent out in the name of Jesus. I am blessed to serve alongside a select few of them in the youth ministry I am interning for and I even find myself overjoyed to share such a passion and vision with them all. This is an incredible season in my life where I am learning a lot, inside and outside the classroom, and have felt both humbled but with an instilled confidence in what I am learning.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Project Provision
I am SO excited that you are reading this right now because that means that you are potentially entering into a really exciting time with me! Allow me to explain what I've been doing and where I feel the Lord is leading me:
I have been blessed the past two years, and this year as well, to attend Biola University. Not only have I had the opportunity to take great classes with incredible Christ-centered professors, but I have also been fortunate enough to major in my calling. I find myself not looking at college as a means to a degree, but an equipping and training to go out into the world to better fulfill the calling the Lord has placed on my life. I am currently majoring in Christian Ministries (formerly Christian Education) with an emphasis on youth ministry. I am presently interning at South Shores church, where I have seen God's continued confirmation that I'm right where he wants me. Dave Kheen, both professor and youth pastor, is equipping me to enter into another youth ministry; whether entering into an already established ministry or building one up from scratch. I am already learning heaps and feel humbled at how unique each youth group can be depending on the culture and needs within specific communities. I am passionate and overflowing with joy each day in what I am studying and living out in ministry service.
Here's where you come into the journey:
The Lord has been unveiling for some time now that he will most likely be moving me away from California after graduation. I have not yet made plans about where I believe him to be leading me, because I know that there are still a few final pieces of confirmation that will be needed before making any decisions. However, I trust that he will bring those final confirmations in due time. Meanwhile, I need prayer warriors over the next 8 months :) I am convinced that the Lord can and will lower, if not eliminate, my school debt before graduation. I have already had my first provision miracle in August. I simply asked that the Lord not tarry in freeing me from the bondage of debt. The next morning I checked my mailbox and discovered that a revision had been made in my school financial aid package. I had been awarded an additional $11,000, last minute with no explination, all of which I would not have to pay back (lowering my private loan to $7,000).
With all of that said, I am looking to begin a prayer project. I am confident that the Lord will provide and that I will have the joy of sharing it with everyone. I will post of his provision on this blog, facebook and in person (school, church and otherwise). I would love for a lot of people to be a part of this because not only will I be grateful for your prayers, but I firmly believe you will be blessed and reminded of God's power and love for us. So pray big and pray with confidence! We serve a MIGHTY GOD =)
Love in Christ,
Tricia
I have been blessed the past two years, and this year as well, to attend Biola University. Not only have I had the opportunity to take great classes with incredible Christ-centered professors, but I have also been fortunate enough to major in my calling. I find myself not looking at college as a means to a degree, but an equipping and training to go out into the world to better fulfill the calling the Lord has placed on my life. I am currently majoring in Christian Ministries (formerly Christian Education) with an emphasis on youth ministry. I am presently interning at South Shores church, where I have seen God's continued confirmation that I'm right where he wants me. Dave Kheen, both professor and youth pastor, is equipping me to enter into another youth ministry; whether entering into an already established ministry or building one up from scratch. I am already learning heaps and feel humbled at how unique each youth group can be depending on the culture and needs within specific communities. I am passionate and overflowing with joy each day in what I am studying and living out in ministry service.
Here's where you come into the journey:
The Lord has been unveiling for some time now that he will most likely be moving me away from California after graduation. I have not yet made plans about where I believe him to be leading me, because I know that there are still a few final pieces of confirmation that will be needed before making any decisions. However, I trust that he will bring those final confirmations in due time. Meanwhile, I need prayer warriors over the next 8 months :) I am convinced that the Lord can and will lower, if not eliminate, my school debt before graduation. I have already had my first provision miracle in August. I simply asked that the Lord not tarry in freeing me from the bondage of debt. The next morning I checked my mailbox and discovered that a revision had been made in my school financial aid package. I had been awarded an additional $11,000, last minute with no explination, all of which I would not have to pay back (lowering my private loan to $7,000).
With all of that said, I am looking to begin a prayer project. I am confident that the Lord will provide and that I will have the joy of sharing it with everyone. I will post of his provision on this blog, facebook and in person (school, church and otherwise). I would love for a lot of people to be a part of this because not only will I be grateful for your prayers, but I firmly believe you will be blessed and reminded of God's power and love for us. So pray big and pray with confidence! We serve a MIGHTY GOD =)
Love in Christ,
Tricia
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Trust
I am so incredibly grateful for seasons. Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer, but also for spiritual seasons. This has been quite a year for me so far spiritually. The year was kicked off with what I would consider a rough blindside of misfortune. I seemed to face some new trial and crisis consistently every week....no exaggeration. It felt as though the waves of obsticles would not let up, but I was reminded that there would be a new season around the corner. There was and it happened to coincide with the beginning of the Summer season.
Looking back at all I went through, I can see how deeply dependent I had to be to trust the Lord. Trust never seems to be a real issue in certain areas of our lives, but when we really set our heart on something, that trust becomes a little more vulnerable to attack. I feel as though I went through an intense season of discipline in re-learning to trust the Lord. It has been the very foundation the Lord has been buliding from since.
I am in a really exciting place in my walk with the Lord. I have been so fortunate to have a lot of time to dedicate to spiritual growth this Summer and have not been wasting a bit of it. I feel refreshed and renewed. His will has been becoming more and more clear for the upcoming year. Though I am excited for what is on the horizon, I am soaking up every minute of the present.
Looking back at all I went through, I can see how deeply dependent I had to be to trust the Lord. Trust never seems to be a real issue in certain areas of our lives, but when we really set our heart on something, that trust becomes a little more vulnerable to attack. I feel as though I went through an intense season of discipline in re-learning to trust the Lord. It has been the very foundation the Lord has been buliding from since.
I am in a really exciting place in my walk with the Lord. I have been so fortunate to have a lot of time to dedicate to spiritual growth this Summer and have not been wasting a bit of it. I feel refreshed and renewed. His will has been becoming more and more clear for the upcoming year. Though I am excited for what is on the horizon, I am soaking up every minute of the present.
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