Trust.

So I have been reading a book recommended by friends last summer that I just now got into and have discovered this book could be about me.  It's called Hinds Feet on High Places. Here's a quick synopsis because I couldn't really do it justice ( check it out ).  For the purpose of the blog I'll tell you it's about a girl named Much Afraid who is trying to get to the high places with the help of the Chief Shepherd and the companions he has given her, Sorrow and Suffering.  She has to travel through many valleys, deserts and plateaus to get to the glorified high places where Love lives.  Just like fundraising, her journey is a refining process that she has to go through and trust that the Chief Shepherd is taking her on the exact path that makes the most sense for her.  She comes from the Fearing family so, along with the companions who are helping her she has to endure comments from Pride, Bitterness, Self-Pitty, Resentment and Craven Fear (her cousins who are trying to make her turn around and go home).

Where I am right now in the book, she is on a plateau, walking through dense fog and is questioning whether she is going the right way. . . kinda like me and my fundraising.  I know this is the right way but I find myself wondering if my goal of September is really the end goal (for the sake of this part of my journey) and questioning whether I should be doing something else, something more, instead of just fully trusting that my Chief Shepherd, my Lord, is with me as He has promised me from the very beginning.

I found sweet encouragement in this paragraph tonight that I wanted to share:

" 'Much-Afraid," said [the Shepherd] very gently in answer to that look, "don't you know by now that I never think of you as you are now but as you will be when I have brought you to the Kingdom of Love and washed you from all the stains and defilements of the journey? If I come along behind you and notice that you are finding the way especially difficult, and are suffering from slips and falls, it only makes me think of what you will be like when you are with me, leaping and skipping on the High Places.' " 


It's been interesting to be reading this book as I'm on my own kind of journey these days.  On some days I am so excited to read about another girl who is on a similar journey yet on other days I can't seem to handle someone else's struggle.

This week will be my last week (4 days only!) with students because the next week I will be at a training in Colorado Springs with other people with a similar heart for the nations.  This week could end up being somewhat bittersweet for me for a couple of reasons.

#1Sweet: I won't have to wake up with the sun! (I am not a morning person by nature so this will be a great gift!) #2Sweet: This training is another sign of IT'S REALLY HAPPENING! :) Oh the joy that fills my heart! #1Bitter: I've really grown to love my students.  They are difficult sometimes but my mom tells me I can't hold it against them when they act like middle schoolers... #2Bitter: I'm going to miss the family I've built with the DMS staff.  I will see them for a couple brief teacher work days after my training but it's always a challenge when chapters of life come to a close.  

The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like Hinds' Feet and he will make me to walk upon mine High Places. 

Habakkuk 3:19 

Trust.