Bottling Up Joy (in goals reached)

I searched through all of our pictures to find one that I thought exhibited the most joy. This is what I found.

Look at those faces. That is what happiness looks like! I am having one of those days where we reached a big goal in support raising and I want to bottle up my feelings of joy and of trusting in the Lord provision, because I know I will need to remember those feelings in the future. 

World Harvest gave us a goal of being at 40% of our monthly support by the end of January. Here we are on January 21st at 41% of our monthly support!! What a blessing! What a joy that people want to be a part of the work being done in South Sudan and have partnered with us in this process! We are blown away by the generosity of those around us! 

The beautiful part about this picture is that these beautiful children (from Nigeria) are joyful because they get to receive. They got to be present while something was given to them. That is how I feel today. I feel joy in receiving. Yes, there is a lot of work that goes into support raising. It takes a lot of time and a lot of moments of trudging through what seems awkward and uncomfortable. In the end, though, it means getting to receive the money and resources that are needing to go and serve and learn from the beautiful people in South Sudan. It means being able to take what was given to us and use it wisely so that ministry and service and love can be given to the community around us in Mundri. 

So today I am bottling up the joy that comes along with reaching our support goal and praising the Lord for His incredible blessing and provision. I am sending out a loud and resounding, "THANK YOU" to everyone who has helped us get to this point. And, I am continuing on with what it takes to get the next 59% to be able to put our feet on the soil where we will minister and do the work that God has put on our hearts to do.