Wednesday, October 12, 2011

God's just in control

hello, dears. :)

how has your wednesday been?? i hope it's been great!
mine was good.
i did school. went to the bank. babysat. and went to church. and sponsored another kid.

whoa, whoa, whaaaaaatttt?!?!



yes! i am SO thrilled and excited and humbled to tell you that God provided me with the resources to sponsor another, precious child.
the story is very cool. let me tell you how in-control God really is:

As I began wanting to sponsor another child, I was uncertain as to which organization to sponsor through. I sponsor Watch through Compassion. But, since being introduced to Katy and her ministry, Amazima, I wanted to pray about possibly sponsoring through it.
I honestly wanted to sponsor through Amazima.
One, because it was $25 per month, compared to Compassion's $38 per month. sheesh :/
Two, because I like Katy, her ministry, and I know the passion she has for the Lord. There is evidence of the Holy Spirit's work in her ministry, and I want to be a part of what the Holy Spirit is involved in!

However, I didn't want to go with Amazima solely for the money aspect, because I felt like I would be limiting God if I did. As in, if God wanted me to step out in faith and do $38 a month (with Compassion), even though I don't know HOW I could do that financially, I wanted to open myself up to that if it was God's plan.

So, I prayed about it for about 4 days, and I really felt like I needed to go with Amazima. I was really thankful for this, because, like I said, I originally wanted to go through them.
As I'm feeling peace about going through Amazima, I also think,
"Hey! It's an added bonus that it's $25! I can totally handle that!"

My decision wasn't made solely on the money aspect, and it now seemed like an "added bonus" that it was inexpensive.

Fast forward to Saturday when I'm asked to babysit for a little boy while his parents go to a football game. All-in-all, I kept him for around 4 1/2 - 5 hours, and usually, for evening sitting, you get paid a little more. So, I was thinking I'd get at least $35, maybe $40. I was going to use that money to make my first sponsorship donation.

This morning, the lady I babysat for came by and dropped the money I made off in the mailbox.

She paid me exactly $25.

I knew, when I realized how much she paid me, that I was

 not
in
control
of
anything.


Here I had been thinking that 25 bucks is not a big deal. I can so handle that.
But then, God's like, I determine the money you get and give. You don't have any control over that; not even over the $25 bucks you think you can totally handle.

I was so humbled. It was real, first-hand type of teaching lesson that showed me that everything I have is by God's grace.

Sometimes he gives me just enough, like today.
And sometimes he gives me abundantly more.

He always gives us our daily bread.
Some days we might also have butter to go with it.
And then some days we may only have flat tortillas instead of steamy, fluffy fresh-baked loaves.

But he'll give us what we need.
We can't provide it for ourselves.
Ever.
It's only in His control.
Always.



I'm so thankful I can share that with y'all!
And I hope the rest of your week is fantastic!

I'll update with info on the kid I'm sponsoring when I get it in the mail!

I love you all!
:)


p.s.-- become a follower to keep updated on both me and Watch and the new child! :)




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4 comments:

Carol said...

Wow, Shelby! Isn't God amazing??

Jill Foley said...

Great story, Shelby! God is so good!! I have Katie's book and it's waiting to be read. I'm hoping to get to it this weekend.

Shelby Grace said...

wow, thanks y'all!
God IS SO amazing!

And I can't wait to read Katy's book!!

Lysa said...

Wow!!! That is so powerful. Thank you!

Blessing,
Lysa

P.s. I found you from Hannah's blog :)