Halfway There!

As you all know, I'm in the process of raising funds for my missions project to Cape Town, South Africa with the Impact Movement! I have to raise a total of $6,000.00 for the trip (which lasts just over a month) by the end of June! Large amount, huh? Well boy do I have an exciting update!! As of this past Thursday, I am now at $3,375.00 exactly!! (God, You are awesome!) I am just loving how He has been putting it on people's hearts to give toward this incredible opportunity for me to share the gospel outside of my regular sphere of influence!! People who I least expect to give having been giving far beyond what I've even asked! All glory be to God. :) I'm really excited to see how the Lord will work out the remainder of these funds!

My Ministry Partner Development coach for the trip sent me something very encouraging called "What Is True of Me." Not only was it a good reminder to me of the what God says in His Word in terms of trusting Him for the funds, but it can also be an encouragement to you all as you lean on Christ's promises during whatever season of life you are in. Here are just a few lines of what was included:

· I serve the Lord God whose resources are infinite (Psalm 50:10-12) and who can abundantly provide. (Ephesians 3:20)

· My team of ministry partners is laying up treasures in heaven and is greater involved in the fulfillment of the Great Commission because of their participation in my life. (Matthew 6:20)

· I am inviting people to be partners in ministry with me by committing their time, prayers, resources and finances to what God is doing in our world. I am not begging for money or asking for a contribution. (1 Thessalonians 1:8)

· My ministry is very significant since people have a need for God. (Matthew 9: 36; Romans 3:23, 6:23)

· My ministry is very significant since I am calling others to consider decisions that will affect their eternal destiny. (John 11:25-26)

· God promises that those who give to my ministry will be more blessed by the giving than I am by the receiving. (Acts 20:35)

· I am an encouragement to my ministry team in their own walks with God as they see what He is doing through me. (1 Thessalonians 1:8)

· God is using me as an opportunity for obedience when others give to my ministry since He has called everyone to give financially to His work regardless of the amount of their personal income. (Malachi 3:8,10; 2 Corinthians 8:1-5)

· As a laborer in the harvest, I am an answer to prayer. (Matthew 9:37-38)

I love the fact that God not only blesses me for my obedience to Him in His service, but He also blesses those who partner in supporting me in my obedience to Him! How cool is that!? :) I get pretty excited about the Lord's work, as you can see hehe. I definitely ask that you guys continue in prayer for the 9 other students who are going on the trip, as well as the staff!! Everyone has to raise nearly the same about of funds (unless of course you've got it like that and can pay out of pocket hehe). This is really an awesome opportunity to exercise our faith in God's ability and provision, as well as His sovereign timing for things. As He stretches our faith in this area, God is making us more flexible in our service, trust, and obedience to Him in all other areas of life! This applies not only to raising money for ministry, but also any test or trial the Lord puts us through. And it's so awesome, because when He comes through, He comes THROUGH! and we're able to point allllllll glory and praise to Jesus for doing the work. My verse for this season? James 5:16b: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth MUCH! (emphasis mine) Have you guys ever had opportunities to lean on these or other assurances found in Scripture? I'd love to hear about them! I'm so thankful to you guys for the prayers, encouragement, and advice thus far; and I do hope you'll continue in to intercede on behalf of me and my missions team for the remainder of this preparatory time before the trip! :)

**If you are interested in finding out more information on supporting me in prayer or financially in this endeavor, just let me know, and I'll answer any questions you may have!**

Operation Under Construction...

FAIL.

Yes. Sadly, I was quite unsuccessful in doing the revamping to my blog that I was planning on doing! I did change my background though (as you can see). Turns out that Hot Bliggity Blog has some very cute and original backgrounds! Shabby Blogs also has nice designs, so we'll see what the final decision is! I was also planning on changing the format and the header after an idea was sparked to use my own pictures after seeing what Jen did on her blog I Believe in Love with pixlr. I was going with a rendering I found of Vibia Perpetua, changing it up here and there as well as inserting a picture of my own, but much to my dismay I forgot to save it! Alas. 'Twas not meant to be...

I'd love to hear if you guys have any suggestions for ways I can reformat my page, whether it be things to add to it, take away, whatever! I know I want to add a signature line with my name, but I've been thus far unsuccessful in inserting the html correctly! I'll definitely take any advice into consideration! Until then, reconstruction is on hold, but hopefully I'll be back on it again soon! In the meantime, be looking forward to posts to come! :)

Under Construction

My life is regularly under construction, undergoing changes to make me more like Jesus. But that's not all! My Life: Perpetua will be potentially getting a makeover! So expect some crazy things on here, but it'll look better when it's all done.

That is all! :) 

Sermons for Sleep

It's a trade-off, really.

One thing my mom has always been good about is listening to sermons in the mornings. She'll turn on WAVA to Charles Stanley first, and then later on listen to Tony Evans. If I have (for some random reason) decided to drag myself out of bed earlier than usual, then I'll get to catch the tail end of a message. And once I hear whatever little portion that I do, I always end up wondering why I don't get up earlier and catch the whole thing!


Well as most people know, I got my license recently (woohoo!) so my mornings now begin even earlier due to me taking my siblings to school and dad to the slug line. (That means I have the car alllllll to myself now!! I'm such a grown-up hehe.) I'm usually out the house around 6:30 AM, which for me is quite early, especially since I'm not in school right now! During my driving time I have the opportunity to turn on the radio and listen to sermons and Christian talk shows. Beginning with Dennis Rainey and ending with Allistair Begg, with John MacArthur, David Jeremiah, and more in between, I have had the opportunity to sit/drive (lol) under sound biblical teaching, much of which has been highly applicable to my every day life!

The thing is, I'm only driving for about an hour. I get back home around 7:40 AM, and thus begins my inward struggle:  To climb into bed or to listen to more sermons? That is the question... At this point I've only listened to two messages/shows, and there are still several yet to come on! Sadly, I must say some days sleep has truly won out. Those days I barely remember what route I took to get home because I was so sleepy! (This extreme sleepiness follows nights when I was up far too late... and don't worry, I stay safe on the road by blasting plenty of Israel, Lecrae, and Trip Lee :)) Thankfully (and I give all credit to the Lord for enabling me to do this!) more days have won out in which I have stayed up to listen to the sermons. I don't simply sit and listen though, otherwise there'd be no hope of me staying awake (sad, but true). So I'll put the radio's message on full blast and occupy myself with something, be it cleaning, or brushing my teeth, or something.

Now I do enjoy my sleep. Very much, for that matter. But the moments spent drinking in the preaching of God's Holy Word are truly sweet, and worth staying up in the morning! As a matter of fact, it's helped me to get to bed earlier (well, earlier for me, hehe) knowing that I won't be sleeping again once I get up in the morning! Once the day starts moving, it's not bound to slow down until the very end of the day. Meaning that if I don't take time set-apart for the Lord early on, it's probably not going to happen later! I still need plenty of growth and discipline in this area, but God is pruning the dead branches of my life that have kept me from being more fruitful in my personal time with Him. I'm definitely excited about how God's working in me thus far; incremental growth is better than no growth!


I totally encourage you guys, if you live in the metro DC area, to listen to 105.1 WAVA for their daily morning sermons. So worthwhile! I know many of you are finishing up school years/semesters, and don't quite plan on starting out your summer getting up earlier than you have to! Totally understandable, hehe. But in that case, you can just check out the website and listen to sermons online! The different pastors are listed, and you can download many of their sermons for free! If you guys have any suggestions on people to listen to online, be it on Youtube or some other site, please do share! I'd really like to hear from you :) Take up the challenge of spending more time with Jesus than you already do... You won't regret it!