Trusting God to Provide
October 19, 2020 - January 1, 2030
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.
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.
“Medical Compassion DTS was a truly an incredible experience. Working in health centres, hospitals and pop-up clinics grew my interest in medicine and allowed me to practically show the love of God. For me, the most transformational aspect of my Med-Com DTS was the focus on compassion and its importance in achieving true holistic healing. This is an experience like no other!”
Matthew Bassett, 18, Orewa, NZ
“For the first time in my life, God showed the revelation of his father-heart through the Cover-to-Cover Bible read and I can now say that I know that I am a Daughter of the King of Kings. So many things moved from my head to my heart through the teaching and reading, and I’m so thankful the Lord lead me into this stream!”
Elizabeth Thruston, 24, Sacramento, CA / Monument, CO
“Being a Kingdom Come student was an awesome experience. We learned a lot about the kingdom of heaven and how to live it out in our daily lives.”
David Lindner, 21, Germany
“SPHC was a transformational turning point in my faith walk where I learned to focus on others, serve, and honour others with my skills. Everything I learned in the course I put into practice to serve in the mission work that we were doing in Vanuatu. In changing me the Lord has changed my future and I walk with him and others in everything that I do.”
Paul Kerpel, 23, Alberta, Canada
“Reading the whole Bible was a real challenge for me, but it was so rewarding. My eyes were opened to the fact that Jesus had existed from the very beginning and that God’s gracious heart always was and is the same! I learned that the Bible isn’t just a story about God, but rather a story about imperfect, raw, real people. I know now that I am one of them, and that I can see God work in my life just like He did it with them!”
Jenny Fritz, 19, Germany
“Coming into the medical compassion stream, I thought it would just be an addition to my medical experience. But after laying down my expectations I was able to grasp the essence of compassion through ministry, experiencing a new perspective on medicine. Choosing to serve in love, and taking the time to seek out and care for the one who need it most.”
Yekaterina Lukyanchina, 20, Russia/America
“At the beginning of the DTS I did not believe in the power of prayer neither did I believe that God even heard my prayers. By the end of it I had no doubt in my mind at all that we have a Father in heaven who always bends His ear to us when we speak and that when we pray in the name of Jesus miracles will be birthed by our words and God’s power.”
Calvin Joubert, 20, South Africa
“Before doing the Justice Movement stream I was so full of hatred and anger toward the perpetrators of human trafficking; completely lacking the love God has for them. But through the stream meetings and prayer it’s been a beautiful journey in which God has shown me how deep and vast His love is for ALL His children. God completely changed my view and I couldn’t be more thankful for this experience!”
Kara Spencer, 19, BC, Canada
“Coming into DTS I already loved and had a heart for worship but over the course of the worship stream I discovered more and more who God was and what HE was and the impact worship has. Finishing DTS my love for God and my heart for worship is bigger than ever before and I found new and deeper intimacy with HIM.”
Andrea Wenger, 24, Switzerland
“This is the craziest stream ever, not just doing fun activities, but the people I was with; they are wild as! Throughout the school, I’ve learned so much from the Bible that doing life with God and living my life on the edge is so much more interesting.”
Mun Hei, 21, Malaysia