The Great Provider

So much has happened since I posted last!

1. I now officially have health insurance which was one of the major concerns of my parents when I told them that I was moving down to Honduras.

2. I have a plane ticket to Honduras (February 4th) and back to the US (Ma 24th)

3. I have currently raised 79% of my support (about $15,800).

4. I have 5 days left of student teaching and then I will have completed my degree at UW-Eau Claire.

Things are reall wrapping up in my life here. It's a little sad to think that in six days I will be leaving Eau Claire without knowing when I'll be returning. For 4.5 years, Eau Claire was my home. I guess I truly am closing a chapter in my life.

But I am also so excited for what is to come. I know that the Lord has something great in store for me in Honduras and I am eager to see how He will use me down there.

I am so thankful and blessed to see my "team" of supporters come together. Throughout the course of the last four months, the Lord has truly taught me that He is the Great Provider and that He will meet all of my needs.

It started out in November when my roommate and I couldn't find subleasers. The Lord provided sub-leasers but they wanted to move in on December 1st instead of February 1st (when I finished student teaching). So the Lord provided a wonderful family who took us into their house for two months and has become a second family to the two of us.

And of course there is the monetary aspect. I worried at first that I would never be able to rais $20,000 in four months. But once again, the Lord blew my expectations out of the water! About mid-December I realized that I was only at about 24% for support and I started to wonder if perhaps I needed more time to raise the funds. But through very gracious and generous donors, the Lord has provided $11,000 in the last four weeks! That is an average of almost $3000 a week! It has been incredible and humbling to see the Lord provide when I finally gave total control to Him!

Thank you again for joining on this journey with me. I have been blessed to have many wonderful conversations with friends, family, and even complete strangers about Honduras and Jericho Ministries.

Dollar Bills

So why raise support?

I think this question is asked a lot of people who are going into the mission field whether it be college campuses around the US or helping orphans in Africa.

Why raise support?
I don't know if there is an easy answer to this question.

I raise support because the organization that I will be working with is a non-profit meaning that they collect no money for the services they provide or the aide that they give to those who need it most.

I raise support because I will not be getting paid by Jericho Ministries even though it is a full-time job.


I raise support so that the women and children that I will be helping can take back their lives and know Jesus Christ.

But mainly I raise support because it increases my dependence on God and shows me how much He will provide for me.
I call God my Father, my provider and yet so often I don't believe that He will provide for my needs. I think "well what if God doesn't come through on this one...how will I do it all on my own?"
Anyone who has ever had to raise funds for a mission trip can tell you that it is incredibly faith-stretching. I am committing to be a full-time ministry with no benefits and no pay and am trusting that the Lord will provide people to support me.

By raising support, I can travel to Honduras, pay for my room/board, purchase health insurance, and give some money back to the ministry so that they can continue to help those who do not have the means to help themselves.



Why raise support?
There's one other reason that I raise support. I raise support to give others a chance to be a "missionary" and to have their faith stretched. We are not all called to do missions in another country, but we are called to share the blessings that God has given us with one another.

If you would like to join my financial support team, I'd love to have you!

~Katie

Do You Want To Get Well?

Today I was reading in the book of John and came across a verse that I had read before so many times but today it really jumped out at me.

The verse is found in John Chapter 5 where Jesus is in Jerusalem and meets an invalid who is waiting to be healed. This particular man had been waiting 38 years to be healed. And Jesus simply asks him "do you want to get well?" (John 5:6)

"Do you want to get well?"
6 words that say it all. Of course this man is going to respond "YES! I want to get well" Why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't this invalid man want to live a life that is free from an ailing body?
And yet, he comes up with excuses instead. "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me" answers the man.

This is my life to a T. So often I allow myself to wallow in my own self pity. Or I become so obsessed with a new fad that I cannot seem to pull myself out of it, even when it leads me to sin. I allow myself to come up with excuse after excuse. "I'll have a quiet time tomorrow"..."Everyone else is doing it"..."It's too hard"..."I don't have enought time"...etc, etc, etc.

Do you want to get well?

Of course I want to get well. Of course I want to live a life that is glorifying to God. Of course I want to be free from sin.


Do you want to get well?
What if getting well means having to end a bad relationship?
What if it means sacrificing sleep so that I can get up early to pray and worship?
What if it means that I have to deny my desires?
What if it means that I have to humble myself and admit my weakness?
Do I really want to do all of that to be well again?

Getting well means that I have to confess my sin and turn from it. I waste so much time and energy being bitter, or avoiding situations, or trying to pretend that what I'm doing is ok. And I can't see how sick and weak it is making me spiritually.
The invalid in the story wasted 38 years...how much time have I wasted?

And then Jesus commands the invalid "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." And just like that the invalid is healed. Jesus gives the command but the invalid makes the decision to get up and believe.

Jesus does the same for us. He died for us and he commands that we live according to the will of his Father. But it is our job to take our mats: our lives, our gifts, our relationships, and do something with them.

Do you want to get well?
What's holding you back?

Fall in Pictures

A few weeks ago, my friend Jill and I went on an adventure around Eau Claire to take pictures and say goodbye. This is one of the signs outside Hibbard Hall (where the majority of my classes were during school).




Here's a picture of the Senior women at the Campus Crusade Fall Retreat. It was my fifth year at Fall Retreat and I have really grown to love these women.



This was my Spanish III class at Osseo-Fairchild High School. There were only 10 students in the class, but we had a lot of fun. It was a hard transition to move into a new school in Eau Claire after such a great experience at Osseo-Fairchild.

December alreday?

Honestly, I do not know where November went. The month flew by!

So what has changed in my life?

Well to start things off, my roommate and I have moved. After trying very hard to find sub-leasers, we were successful! They wanted to move in on December 1st. We were so desperate to find someone to take it that we agreed. And then a family from Katie's church invited us to live with them!
We officially moved in on November 30th and it has been such a blessing so far. We share a room and a bathroom, get to participate in family meals and have a warm house to come home to at the end of the day. This especially has been great for me seeing as that I've been fighting off a nasty little cold the past few days and it feels like I'm back at home!

In other news, I'm at 18% so far for support. It has been difficult to put 100% effort into raising support since I'm student teaching from 7am-3:30 pm every day, working part time at Scheels, leading a bible study, and trying to have a social life! 18% is a great place to be and it's really challenging me to put all of my trust in the Lord. I know that He has called me to Honduras and He will provide for me.

Plan, plan, plan

I am a planner. I always have been, and although college has done a number on how much I plan/worry about planning, I believe that I always will be.

I was talking to my friend Sarah about this the other night. We like to plan. We like to know what we should do first, second, etc. and we like to know at the end of the day that our future is somewhat figured out. I don't believe that this is putting God in a box at all. I 100% believe that He created me to be a little more organized than my friends. I know that He uses my "plans" to tweak my future.
I believe this so much that I had it tattooed on my foot.

Yes I have a tattoo. On the instep of my right foot is a little footprint and the reference to Proverbs 16:9. This verse simply reads "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."
Over the past two years, this verse has helped me remember that it is all right for me to dream. It is ok for me to have hopes and ambitions and to pursue them. It is fine if I make plans for myself....

...as long as I write in pencil.

Because the other thing that my tattoo reminds me is that the Lord is still in TOTAL CONTROL of my steps. He directs my life. I can go ahead and pick my "end points" but that doesn't mean that I will arrive there as I had planned, or that I'll arrive at them at all.

If you had asked me a year ago what my plans were after graduation, it would have gone a little something like this:
"Well I don't really know where I'm going to go or what I'm going to do but I really want to teach English as a Second Language and maybe travel during the summer."

Little did I know that I'd be teaching English in Honduras and that my "travel in the summer" would be traveling back home to visit my family and friends here! I never would have chosen this specific path for my life because I wasn't opening my eyes to that possibility. That's why it's so much better for the Lord to be in control of my life...He can see the big picture!

It is comforting to know that the Lord is looking out for me and my plans. He gives me the freedom to dream and hope and wish and plan, but in the end He watches over my steps and directs my feet and my heart. And I put all my trust in Him because He promises that His plan for our lives is so much better than anything that we could plan for ourselves.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
-Jeremiah 29:11

One Pure and Holy Passion

Last night at our weekly meeting we sang a beautiful song and I can't get the lyrics out of my head.
It's called "One Pure and Holy Passion" and it is a prayer up to God that He would give us one passion, one ambition, one obsession in our lives that will draw us closer to Him. How beautiful it is to know that if we really open our lives up to the Lord, if we really desire to follow Him, then He will direct our lives and will give us a passion that we can follow.

This is an encouraging song for me, because the past few years I have always wondered where the Lord would call me after college, what my purpose would be on this Earth. And He replied by giving me a passion for the Spanish language, a passion for the world, and a passion for adolescents. So what better place to be than in Honduras!?

Later in the song is states "this world is empty, pale, and poor compared to knowing you my Lord". WOW. It's so true. No matter how "happy" we are with our lives, if we don't have a deep relationship with Christ, it is empty and void of true living.

It really makes me question what I'm living for. Am I living for my paycheck? Am I living for the next "big adventure"? Am I living for a husband, a family? Or am I truly living for Christ? Because if I'm not living for Him everyday, then my world is empty, pale and cold. And who would want to live that way?