"B" Stands For...

My original, too long title for this post is: "Blogs, Blessings, Big Red & A Bowl of Buttercream".

You can see why it wouldn't fit.

First warning for this post, it's long and wordy. I know you're shocked! But I have alot to say and hopefully, it all fits together at some point.

So let's get started :)

Recently, I've come across several blogs of families that are in the process of raising their support to become missionaries with Wycliffe, the organization that JAARS is an entity of. What amazes me about these blogs is their honesty and faith throughout their journeys.

I feel like I've been pretty honest throughout my blogging journey, but I admit, I do hold back on some occasions. Honestly, there's a level of vulnerability that I haven't reached yet. Mostly because I really don't want to admit what I'm feeling. It looks pretty bad when it's written out for the world to see.

But as I'm reading these blogs of other people, it's great to see how the Lord is showing them more of who He is. How He's providing for them and guiding them along the way. They're honest about their struggles and how tough it is to get off the ground in pursuit of the calling God has for them.

So here I am in all of this. Some of you have asked how the Lord is doing all of this and making this happen. Well, I am going to try and verbalize more of what's going on. Feelings and all. Brace yourself, it's probably going to get deep, but that's where the Lord is working right now. Sometime I *might* even share where we've been the last several years and ended up to this point. We'll see :) I'm not there yet!

But I'll start small. Today is about blessings and a bowl of buttercream frosting.

Once we knew that we were going on this trip in August, we were saving and prepping financially for it. We will need to pay for the technical evaluation, housing, gas, food etc. J and I have both done as much as we could to help... a garage sale, plane maintenance, etc. But on top of all "we" were doing, the Lord brought people along side us to help including our generous church family and many friends...whether they knew what they were doing or not!

The other night a friend sends me a message on Facebook and she's in need of some vanilla buttercream frosting. She figured Big Red (my mixer) needed a workout :) The crazy thing in all of this is that she was going to PAY me for it. Really?! It's just frosting. I told her not to worry about paying me, but of course I'll make the frosting.

She didn't listen and paid me for yes, a bowl of buttercream frosting. Now I'm sure she has no idea that she was making a contribution to our NC fund in any way. It's not like I've got a sign out selling my cupcakes or bowls of frosting to get me to NC...but maybe I should??? :)

Could it be that this was another way for the Lord to add even more to our trip fund??

Am I reading too much into this? Possibly, but these days, I don't take anything for granted.

The moral of all this? The Lord is going to provide for us. He always has, He always will. Whether we go to some far off land or stay right here where we are. He's going to provide a way. And I'm watching to see how He does it next.

Sometimes, as we're learning, the blessing comes by way of doing something that you love, when you least expect it.

For me, it's in making a bowl of buttercream frosting.