Mini Praise Report + Some Thoughts!

I know, it hasn't been very long since I updated the last time, but I had another praise Jesus to share! This week I started the dreaded process of applying for my visa to India. While it's probably not as difficult as I made it out to be, I have been scared that if I don't cross my T's and dot my I's, they won't let me in the country. When I was doing this, I kinda thought the visa would be around $40 or so. Great! I can handle that! I get to the end of filling out the paperwork, only to find out that in order to securely ship my passport to the visa office and back, plus processing fees and the actual visa charge, I was going to owe $118. That was a bit less do-able in my current financial state. Shame on me, I didn't even pray about it. I just figured that my parents would have to loan me the money, and I would pay them back as support came in. Well, God loves to jump ahead of my expectations and stop me in my tracks. :)

Wednesday night I had strep, for the second time in two weeks. I had also received some other (minor) news that I wasn't taking so well, and basically had a giant pity party for myself. In that moment, I knew that, strep or not, I had to go to church. Spending time communing with Jesus and His church always tends to squash my pity parties; so off I went. By the end of the service I had all but forgotten my previous black mood. Instead I was just happy to be with friends, laughing and talking. That's when Jesus decided to rock my world (again, and in a good way.)

One of my friends pulled me aside and asked me how much I still had to raise for my trip. I gave them the numbers, and they nodded thoughtfully. I (still clueless in this moment) was wondering what in the world this person had pulled me aside for. Why didn't they just ask the question? They then said "Well I have something that might help you." and walked to their car, came back and pressed a bill into my hand and said something along the lines of "God really laid this amount on my heart to give to you, and I hope it helps. Go do great things for God in India!" I unfolded it later to see a $100 bill. In that moment, I could have done back-flips! I didn't even think to ask God, but there He was, meeting my need.

It gave me a lot to think about. I think it is super, SUPER cool when anyone is open to the Holy Spirit about giving to a cause. I know everyone is in their own place financially, and money can be hard to part with. This particular situation, however, excited me. My generation isn't always known for our generosity. While there are exceptions to the rule, I think as a whole we can tend to hold on too tightly to the things God has been so generous to bless us with. To directly witness someone in my age group listening to the Holy Spirit and giving accordingly? I just gotta say, that rocked my world even more.

Thoughts?