January, New Beginnings, Personal Growth, and Unexpected Accidents

Good Afternoon Friends, Family and Internet Wanderers!

January has been a busy and eventful month full of new beginnings as I go back to school, personal growth specifically in terms of learning to submit to those in authority over me, and unexpected costs/accidents like my car being written off! All in all, there is much I have to be thankful for and much I would like prayer about.

Thankfulness:

I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for me about this semester of University. Last year I made it known that school was taking a significant emotional and psychological toll on me. I still do not know if it was the particular classes or if perhaps something else had been going on. That being said, as I am writing this I find myself a third of the way through the current semester and experiencing only about a third of the anxiety of last year. This has been a profound answer to prayers as last year I was starting to even find it difficult to complete assignments in a timely manner. Now while I still have some stress in regards to school, it seems to be much more in the realm of what one might expect.

While it may not seem like a thankfulness piece the outcome of the situation has been quite positive. In early January as I spent an evening at a friends house I came out to see that my car had been smashed and the culprit was nowhere to be found. After taking it to the police and MPI it was determined to be a write off, primarily because the age of the vehicle and the Kilometres meant the vehicle was not worth the cost of repair. This was difficult for me since the car itself had been a huge blessing as it was a gift and had very minor maintenance costs. Yet that being said I was aware of a few upcoming expenses that I was waiting until tax return season to take care of, not to mention that this morning when I tried to drop it off at MPI the vehicle had an engine failure and broken down completely. The trouble is that not having much money in the bank I could not afford to even look at a replacement until tax season, and depending on what I was given perhaps not even then. But upon finding this out a generous family member offered to loan me the money I needed to purchase a replacement vehicle. The vehicle I found was a 2008 Nissan Versa, with only 125,000 km for around $4500. For the vehicle, year, and KM's this was a steal of a deal, especially since my mechanic checked it out and gave it the all clear as well. Thanks to everyone who was praying for this process and those who helped with funds and giving suggestions on how to purchase a car. This was both my first write off and my first time purchasing a car, despite it being my third car.

Finally I am so thankful for the youth group I get to lead and the leaders who partner with me to do it. Our group is still relatively small but it looks to be growing especially with young women. So this past month one of my female leaders and I were able to take three of our Jr. High girls on a day long retreat to learn more about how God knows and cares for them. It was a time of fun, and of growth for these young women. One of my fears has been that the growth of our youth group has been almost exclusively young women and while I am so excited about the growth, I was also concerned as I must rely more and more on my leaders to bless our young girls. Yet those fears have proved to be unfounded as all of my leaders have really stepped up in the last year, especially this past month. I am so thankful for the leaders we have who are willing to invest in these kids!

Also thank you to all who donate to my support fund, right now I am funded until August! Your generosity continues to astound me!

Prayer Requests:

As positive as this month has been for me please continue to keep my mother in your prayers. She received some disheartening news this past month. She was working at home and fell hurting her leg and after a doctors visit she found that the cancer has spread to her bones now, making it hard for her to get around right now. Despite the negative news I have been so encouraged to see how strong she is, yet I also see the toll this is taking on her and how much she fights to be positive. Please pray that Jesus would draw close to her in these troubling times. Please join me in praying for hope and for healing; that she would see positive progress in her fight against cancer. Please also pray for the family around my mom, that we would be supportive and she would know our love. In particular please pray for my sister who has taken it upon herself to support mom significantly at home as she is having difficulty with a lot of her usual responsibilities.

This month I also found out that 2 of my youth leaders are leaving the city to try their hand at farming in rural Manitoba, and as a result they will not be with us next year. On the one hand I know that this is something that they have been discerning for some time and I am very happy for them. That being said this means that both the youth group and the young adults group will loose key leaders/members. Please join me in praying for this couple that their transition would be a positive one. Please also join with me in praying that God would raise up other leaders in their place, specifically female leaders as I wrote above that we seem to have many young women and only a few young men.

Finally this month I found out that a small part of my tuition which was previously covered by my program is no longer covered. Effectively this means I am paying an extra $80 per semester which really is not a lot in the grand scheme of things, yet for some reason this rubbed at me the wrong way. I started to experience some trepidation in regards to finances as I keep a pretty tight budget without much wiggle room. Yet what I want prayer for is not an abundance in finances (although I'll take it if it comes :)) but a heart willing to readily submit and trust in God. God has been incredibly gracious to me financially and otherwise, yet for some reason I had trouble seeing that in this moment. Please pray that I won't be foolish, but that I will continue to trust in God who has already carried me so far, and that I would not get in my own way when something unexpected happens.