Fundraising Update!

First of all, I must tell you how in awe I am of the ways that God has provided for this trip in just a matter of weeks! So far,  a little over $3,000 has come in out of the $4,800 needed to go on the trip. BAH! I am overwhelmed by the generous support and giving of many friends, family and community members who have invested their time and finances into making this trip possible. I wanted to thank you for first and foremost, for saying "Yes!" to the Lord by going into all the nations and proclaiming His name through your giving. You are just as much a part of our team that will be bringing the name of Jesus to many! So wooohoo! Secondly, I thank you for supporting me and making it possible for me to go on this expedition. And last but certainly not least, thank you SOO much for your continuous prayer for myself and our team as we prepare to go to Zambia and walk into what the Lord has for us, the believers and the unreached over in Africa. I believe that prayer is essential and has POWER! 

Ah.

Thank you for allowing the Lord to use you as a tool of His provision for this trip, and even as a tool to help increase my faith in HIS faithfulness. Through this fundraising process God has shown me time and time again how faithful He is to provide for every-single-one of our needs, and that not one of them goes unnoticed. And I believe He will provide the rest of the money for me to go! 

With this being said, I have approximately $1,800 more to go before I am fully funded! I have to have this amount in by June 1st!

IF you would like to give financially:

1. You can donate online by going to http://www.overlandmissions.com/. When you arrive at the page, if you look on the right side, there is a 'Donate' button. Fill out the donation application and place "Kaitlin Kirkpatrick" in the Donation Memo portion.

 OR

2. You can donate by mail! Please message me for my address :)

AGAIN! Thank you so much for all of your support! I will keep updates on the fundraising process along with the progress of the expedition!

Harvesting a Heart of Faith

Do you ever get stuck inside your own head?
Like- literally fixated in the same web of thoughts that you cannot seem to break free from?

It's so annoying.

Thought after thought, worry after worry, fear after fear, fret after fret-- swirling through every canal and crevice of your mind, until your mental ability to think is on lock down. And then you realize, "Holy cow, I've been looking at the same object for 30 minutes yet, have managed to mentally visit every 'what if' in my BRAIN."

It's exhausting--and crazy if you think about it. The power we allow our thoughts and fears that may not even be existing realities, to take dominance over our physical, emotional and spiritual health. Nuts!

 And I'm all too guilty of doing it- all. the. time. I was sitting at work this morning, staring at my desk (probably cross eyed) for a grand total of 45 minutes exhausting every option of what "could" happen with all the current changes taking place in this season of life. Well, after I realized what a DOWNER I was being, I tried focusing on something else but my mood just sucked after my all too depressing 'thinking' session. I was frequently annoyed with people that came in, had tears rolling at the front of my eyes with every frustrating thought, and I was just altogether a mess!

The reality of it was, in the physical realm- Nothing even happened. I became overwhelmed with a false sense of reality that I convinced myself was real.

That's the stupid thing about fear. (Well, everything about it is stupid- But you know what I mean)
It makes things a way bigger deal than they are.
Why??
Because it is false.

And I hear the voice of my mother every time I say this--

"Kaitlin, what is fear?"

False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

Fear calls us to come and hide in the darkness of the unknown. To sit and wonder about all the unseen things that 'could' be lurking around.

But the defense to fear is faith. 

Hebrews 11:1 says that,"faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

Fear gives apprehension of what we can't see, but faith gives us assurance of what we can't see.


And that really didn't make any sense until I gave it a try.

In the midst of the process of winding webs of fear, I opened my devotional to today's date and it said these words :
"The best response is a heart overflowing with gratitude. I am training you to cultivate a thankful mindset."

No offense, but the last thing I want to do is be grateful and thankful-- Honestly, I kind of want to keep spinning around in circles because in the most ODD way- It's comforting. Sometimes it's easier to fear and try to obsessively plan for every in and out of  the unknown instead of trusting the One who knows it all.

So I decided to try the thankful thing, and I just began thanking God for the process that He is taking me through for His faithfulness through the many processes in the past. And as I continued to bring those truths to the forefront of my mind, it was incredible the shift in my thoughts. By speaking truths and thanking Him in faith for what He has done and for who He is, I began feeling assured that I would be taken care of and that in the midst of the change, He would be faithful as He always has.

I don't get why I choose fear more than I chose faith, because God has given us every reason to trust Him. But thank the Lord that He is not finished yet!