Dear God...

Dear God,

You know that I'm typing this blog post addressed to you, but secretly hope every person with a large wallet reads it.  God- Jess and I have a very daunting task ahead of us.  Or so it would seem.  I guess it depends on how much faith I really have in you.  You see, we want to serve you in the Philippines, and our goal is to get there by January.  But God, that can only happen if we raise all of our upfront costs and have at least 80% of our monthly needs pledged to us by supporters.  And there I go again- I said "if we raise."  Yeah, a lot of the time I start to get down on this whole "support raising" thing because I view it as just that- me doing all of the work trying to nag people into giving us enough money so that we can go to the Philippines.  Sometimes I forget that it's YOUR HOLY SPIRIT who begins to work in people's hearts to give before I ever interact with them.  I forget that it's YOU that owns the cattle on a thousand hills and is pouring your resources into YOUR ministry in the Philippines.  Sometimes I forget that this whole missionary endeavor is for you... and I'm sorry.  

Father, grant me more faith.  Allow me to trust that every day that You are going to meet my needs and that you will eventually meet our financial needs in this area.  God, to me $23,000 is a lot of money to raise for one time expenses, not to mention the close to $3,000 we need monthly.  But to You, it's peanuts.  God, it's not me who does this thing, it's You.  Keep me on track.  Never let me forget your faithfulness.  Help me be disciplined in sharing Your Holy Spirit's movement in my life with those you have appointed to support us.  And God.. I love you.

Your sometimes faithful son,

  Russell