Trusting God to Provide
December 31, 2030 - March 14, 2040
Trusting God to Provide
In a mission field where you don’t have a regular pay check coming in, fundraising might be quite intimidating. However, as Christians, we’re called to trust in who God says He is. He is our Provider. I think of the verse, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
As YWAMers, we value living by faith, and practicing dependence on God to provide all the things we need to do His work.
If you were looking for a personal testimony on how to trust the Lord to provide finances, here is one from a former staff named Chelsea. Look no further to read first-hand experiences in this area!
Chelsea Logan
21, Australia
“Trusting God can be one of the hardest things to do in life, especially when He asks you to jump with no knowledge of how and when you will land on safe ground, but we do it, right? Time and time again because we know we can trust Him, right?
Well, since we know that, then why do we still look over into the darkness and say “Are you sure I can trust you Lord?” or “What if this doesn’t work?”. I was faced with the same challenge 3 months before leaving for Canada to do a secondary YWAM course. My challenge was to trust that God would provide enough sponsorship to get me there, feed me, keep an Aussie warm in the snow, do the course, and then have a ticket home. Every time I would look at my bank, I ended with an amount of money that did not leave me with trust in God. But if I could have talked to myself 3 months onward, I would have been filled with shock and amazement at how faithful and incredible our God is; in 3 months I would have all the funding I needed and more, but sadly, I couldn’t do that.
How did He do it you ask? Well when I started praying “Lord, give me money please, but just don’t make me work for it”, He made me work for it. One of my friends who had been with YWAM for a while would always amaze me at his ease to buy and do what ever he wanted without worrying about funds. One day when my stress got too much I finally asked him how he does it, he then shared with me a book called “Raise Your Support With Confidence” by Aden Ezra Wright (get your own free copy here!).
When I received the book I was very disappointed as it told me on the first chapter I would still have to work for my support, but after reading a few chapters I felt God say that when I read this book and follow all the steps He will provide, but He wanted me to do the hard work.
From that point on I was continually filled with a knowing that the funding was coming. I found myself always thanking Him for it and never asking Him for it. It took me 2 months to read and follow all the steps, but finally I had done it; I had made a list of 150 potential sponsors, I had sent out all the emails, now all that was left was sitting back and letting God do His thing as really only He can speak to someone’s heart.
The next week after sending all the emails out, I was receiving emails back from people I never thought in a 100 years would reply back and they were all asking me the same thing “When can I start supporting you?” within 3 weeks I went from $150 monthly support to $1500 monthly support. It sounds impossible really! I’m not sure why God doesn’t just leave the money under your pillow or anonymously transfer it into your bank, but I know this grew me a whole lot more than just receiving money and not working for it. Ultimately, it glorified Him a whole lot more too!
God is faithful, He has always been, you just have to remind yourself of that sometimes.”
Conclusion
Although trusting the Lord takes some work, it’s also an invitation for others to join in the mission and partner with the call of the Great Commission Jesus has set for us. Seeking the Lord and knowing who God is, allows us to stand in confidence for Him to provide all He has called us into. When He calls, He equips!
Chelsea was apart of our Operations departments; check out this video on the heart behind what they do and how we see Jesus in it – The Craftsman
If you’re thinking about doing a DTS and not sure how much it’s going to cost you, check out our blog post on that exact question.
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Jaspar Wandtke, 20, Germany
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“Before I did the Go Pacific DTS, I was expecting the Lord to do a lot of amazing things through me; and He did. However, I never expected Him to do so much work in my own heart. I drew a lot closer to God, experienced freedom, and I learned to believe in the ‘Jonas’ that He says I am. My relationship with God has become deeper and more serious, but at the same time it has become more fun and casual.”
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