It's Official!

So officially I have been accept for my practicum site in South Asia!!!  I had a phone interview with the company on Wednesday, and then got my official acceptance on Thursday.  Now all that is left to figure out is how to pay the $5000 that it will cost in the next few months.

The thought of money got me thinking about the provision of God.  In the past, every time that I have needed to raise fund God has always provided.  However every time I get a new thing that needs fund I freak out about the money.  I get worried that I will commit to something then the money not come through.  Even in talking to people about my trip I almost always will mention something about needing to figure out money.

Then a great theologian and an amazing friend of mine named Stephanie Obad preached a great message at youth group this last Friday.  In our youth group we have been going through the book of Matthew since the beginning of December.  We have really been engaging with the text and what it means to us in our everyday lives.  This week's message was covering Matthew 14-15.  One of the things that really hit me from Steph's message is that the disciples brought what they did not think was enough, and God made it exactly what they needed and even more.

That just amazed me!  I have heard this story a million times, but to realize that I will never have enough in myself yet God still wants me.  He wants my lack of ability.  He want to take the things that I fail at and make them wonderful works of his hand.

So still I am sitting here thinking I have no idea where this money is going to come from, but I know that I can give it to God.  This is not saying that I don't have to put some effort in, but it is saying that I do not have to sit and worry all day about the money.  I can rest in the grace of the Lord because He will not let me fall beneath the waves just like He did not let Peter fall when he was trying to walk on water. 

The Lord Changes My Plans

So as you can guess this blog post is going to be about the Lord changing my plans.  So the plans that have been changed are the plans for my practicum site.  I have been avoiding going overseas for my practicum.  I wanted to stay Stateside, and most likely in California.  For the last 2 months I have been searching high and low for a practicum site.  I wanted to find something also using the arts since that is my focus in school.  It seemed like every site that I would propose did not fit the criteria for our practicums here at school.

About 4 weeks ago I started feeling like God said that I should be doing my practicum overseas.  I tried to ignore this fact, and kept looking domestically.  However every corner I turned just lead me back to international travel.  This fact scares me a bit because of the finances that will be needed to go overseas, and that I would need the funds by mid-June.

Well I finally gave in,and started to look at international practicum sites.  I was not really finding anything that had to do with the arts until I came across the Wycliffe Bible Translators website.  I had seen them before with using music in ministry, but that is not really my background.  However they have now added a new portion to their work which is an Art Consultant.  They allow artist of any kind to see how their art form will work in ministry.  So I have just put in my application to go to South Asia with them.  What exactly is South Asia you may ask...well here is a map for you.

In this trip we will be travelling by train to 3 major cities.  We will be getting training in Storytelling and Linguistics.  Both of these are extremely important since most of the unreached people groups do not have a written language or most of the population are illiterate.  I am hoping to hear back from them soon, and then just praying that God helps provide the funds.  I know that this trip will never happen without God working great miracles.  I will let you guys know once I know more, but one thing that I would appreciate is if you would be willing to pray for this trip/me.