We are helping students move into the dorms this week- the freshmen arrive tomorrow! Pray that we can make as many connections as possible and that we can start building relationships right away. Pray that these students would be searching for ways to get connected and that they would find our ministry open to them. There are a lot of campus activities going on this week, so it might be easy for them to get distracted by everything, but I believe that God is already doing a big work here at FSU and that he is bringing us many students this year! We just have to go out and meet them now!
I've been thinking about Isaiah 43:18-19 over the past couple days. It says:
"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."
I think of the freshmen as they are preparing to move to FSU. A lot of them are broken, come from broken families, have hurts and struggles, have made mistakes and live with regrets. But as they move to campus, there are new opportunities! God calls us to forget about the former things and not to dwell on the past. It's done and over. God has forgiven us if we accept it; it's time we forgive ourselves and those who have wronged us. It's not worth it to dwell on the past. Why? Because God is at work doing a new thing!! He makes all things new. It springs up before us. There is new life being offered. This is a new season with so many new experiences for students.
We talked as a staff team about how the soil at FSU is hard. Students aren't always open to the gospel, or decide to busy themselves and ignore it. But God promises here that He is making a way in the desert! That's my prayer. That God would make a way right through the center of campus, that students would find themselves on this path and begin to ask questions and seek the Lord.
He is making streams in the wasteland. To me, that just speaks directly of college campuses. They can be such a wasteland. Students can easily waste time, money, energy, life, everything while in college. I hope that instead of wasting life, these students would experience fullness of life, that they would find grace and redemption as they step foot on FSU.
This reminds me of Jesus as he speaks to the Samaritan woman:
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"
Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."(John: 10-14)
If they only knew the gift of God! So many students have never understood the gospel, and we get to share it with them. Praise God. I pray that they would ask Him for this living water, just as this woman did. A spring of water welling up to eternal life, now that's worth investing in! I don't want to see the campus as a wasteland, but as a spring of water that wells up to eternal life! Pray this with me! God is most certainly at work!
This reminds me of a side note of funding. I am still fund raising, but need to be on campus full time for the first two weeks, so it's going to be a challenge to find time for everything. But God brought me up to 40% yesterday!! I have a neat story I want to share.
I wanted to meet with my old boss and his wife to share my story and invite them to partner with me in this ministry, but it just never worked out because of timing. She was sweet enough to encourage me and was honest that they were already maxed out in monthly commitments, but she promised me that any extra money they came across they would like to give me, so that's what I prayed for! Here's an email I got from her last night:
"Victoria,
You must have been praying for that found money. Because I have a story for you....
We have been trying to get our last three calves to auction, and we were finally able to do that last Tuesday. We had already committed to donate a percent of that sale to Debbie and Jim's moving expense. Brad and I decided that whatever amount of that percent was over $100, we would give to you....
But in our hearts, we wanted to give you $100 too.
So, we started with $40.00 left over for you.
Today, I was doing some spring cleaning in summer, and "found" two mugs with change in them. I took them to the coin counter at publix, and got $37.00, which brought our total for you to $77.00.
I came home and opened the mail, only to find a check from our car insurance giving us a refund because Zach turns 20 this week. The check was for $23.00.
So Victoria, there is your found money. Where do I send the $100?
God is so good. Cows, Coins and Car!!! I love it when He does stuff like that!"
Praise God!! My favorite part of fund raising is experiencing God doing crazy amazing things. Things that I could not even imagine. That's the update for now. There's so much more I could write, but I have a lot of work to do before we head to campus!! Please keep praying!
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)
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