Why Are Stamps so Expensive?

Okay so I sent out my first wave of support letters yesterday(19 of them to be exact).  Every time I enter in to the process of support raising, I always get nervous when I send out those first letters.  I get nervous because I know that in a weeks time, I will be calling the folks who hopefully received my letter(and read it!).  From here on out it's nothing but faith and patience in God and his promises.  I am reading a book called Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin and in it he says that "God can use us, but he doesn't need us"(page 46).  This rang out to me like a fire alarm in the middle of a night that is so quiet you can barely hear the crickets.  I came to realize that it is a distinct privilege and honor to be used by God to further his Kingdom.  He is going to accomplish his purposes one way or another(Isaiah 55:10-12), with or without us.  If God chooses to call me to be a part of his plan, this is an eternal privilege.

How does this relate to support raising?


Since it is a privilege to be used by God, it is a privilege to walk the path towards what it is God wants to use you for(ultimately to glorify him).  In my case, raising support should be a privilege for me!  I should be ecstatic about calling the next person on my list and overjoyed that I get to invite others to join in my mission, God's mission.  It is an honor because I get to see how even in the midst of my circumstances, God is working for my  good(Romans 8:28).  Raising support begs the question: Do I believe God is really good?

Now all that said, the concept is easier to grasp than the reality of it.  Just because I understand intellectually, doesn't mean I am experiencing spiritually and emotionally.  If I miss out on the joy that should come hand in hand with this process, I am missing the truth of God's promises and ultimately the Gospel.  If I don't believe that God is good to me in this, how can I truly believe that God is good to me through the cross?  The point of support raising is not to raise a bunch of money, the point is to be able to enjoy the faithfulness of God.

Before I get too lengthy to the point that no one wants to read my post, and so I'm not late for work,  i'll close with this:  This type of joy and delight in God and use of you in his Kingdom, can only be experienced by asking for it!  If we do not seek God, through his word and through prayer, consistently asking for this joy, we will never experience it fully.  Especially when things get a little rough.  I am not naive enough to think that this truth does not apply to me.  I would ask that you join me in asking God that I would be able to experience this joy that should fill my heart throughout this process.  Pray that you would experience it yourself!

Also please pray that my letters fall on hearts that are softened by the grace of God and on hearts that have a deep desire to be a part of the mission of God.  Thanks.


Slave to Righteousness

Donovan

Prayer Request

I just wanted to let everyone know of a specific prayer request that I have.  This weekend is our winter retreat for Campus Outreach in Asheville, NC.  We are really excited about the opportunity we have this weekend to engage with nonbelievers over the word and to hopefully see them come to an understanding of the Gospel.  I want to ask that you would pray with me on behalf of these students.  That they would respond to the Gospel favorably and accept it as their saving grace.  Pray that the word would pierce their hearts and their view of God would be totally blown up.  We want them to see and experience God this weekend like they never have before.    Thanks for your prayers.  I hope everyone is doing well.

Slave to righteousness

Donovan

P.S.  I started reading "Desiring God" by John Piper about 2 weeks ago and it seems like there is a nugget of truth on every page.  I am sure that I will be posting about different concepts and chapters in the book and how they have radically been changing my thoughts on how I relate and fully glorify God.

Fine Tuning

Hey everyone!  I'm trying to fine tune this blog before I really start taking off with posting and updating.  This is basically a test post to see if everything is working properly.

Slave to Righteousness

Dono

Still Trucking

Okay so our weekend retreat in Malaka was awesome.  We stayed at an awesome hotel and the city was really cool.  If nothing else the weekend was a nice break from all the hustle and bustle that is the Nilai team every day.  We helped put on a concert this past thursday for the students at the main campus we are mistering on.  The musicians were tow guys from America named Beau Bristow and David Story.  I had never heard of them before this concert before, but they were actually really good.  We had a great turnout too.  About a thousand students from INTI University came and there was a small gospel presentation which is hard to come by in a country that is so predominately muslim, buddhist and hindu.  We are still getting to know some of the individual students and hoping to share the gospel with them soon.  Please continue to pray for our unity as a team and our favor with these students.  We need your prayers to be able to get through these last couple weeks while having some affect on campus.  Also, we have been teaching english once a week for the past two weeks at the college and we had an english camp yesterday.  It was an all day event and at first my heart was really hard towards it.  I didnt want to plan for it and i didnt want to get up early and teach people about english all day.  However, in spite of my attitude, God made it an awesome day and we got to see the students make great progress in their english writing and speaking abilities.

Well I am going to sign off and go to bed because it has been a long day, like most days here.  Continue to pray for a movement of God here in Nilai.  Thanks.


Slave to righteousness

Donovan

Never a Dull Moment

Sorry it's been so long.  So I've been in Malaysia for almost two weeks now!  I can't believe I have been here that long it feels like just yesterday we were landing in KL.  Unfortunately I can't upload any pictures because the computer I am using doesn't have a slot for my sd card.  So our team in Nilai, which is the equivalent to the country, is so awesome and God has been blessing us with so many relationships on campus so far.  We have met and are following up about 20 new guys and are getting to know students who are already involved in a local ministry.  We have done bible studies and many other activities and sports so far and we hardly have a minute to rest.  The food is really good which is surpriseing to me.  I thought I would have a really rough time acclamating to it.  We are headed back to campus in a few minutes so I will close with this:  Thank you for all your prayers they are working.  God is blessing our efforts on campus and also personally within our team and our hearts.  Continue to pray for us as we have a weekend retreat in Malaka which is a historical port city on the coast.  Pray that students would begin to hear and accept the gospel as their saving grace.  Pray for the advancement of the kingdom.

Slave to Righteousness,

Donovan

Am I Dreaming?

Well....He did it!!  God provided not only my full support, but the full support of our entire team.  I'm so excited that I got to witness God's faithfulness to his children.  We have a meeting today at 3:30 then we are eating dinner together and staying in a hotel tonight.  We fly out at 6am tomorrow!!  I'll be in Malaysia in two days and I can't believe it.  It still hasn't hit me yet that I am about to go to a foreign country and stay for six weeks.  Continue to pray for me and my team that God would comfort us and shape us this summer into the men and women he has so may things planned for.  This will be my last post probably for a few days at least so my next post will probably be describing in detail my amazement of Malaysia and God's creation around the world.  We'll talk to ya soon.

Slave to Righteousness,

Dono

The Word Fulfilled: He is Faithful!

Every day I try to remind myself that everything that I have, and every pleasure that I enjoy are results of God's grace on my life.  These past few days have been an awesome reminder of that.  In the past 3 days God has provided me with over $2000 for CCP!!  Ever since I have been home I have been on the phone all day just trying to find some money somewhere.  The way it has unfolded the past couple of days has really been amazing and I can't even put into words what I am feeling right now.  With only $400 left to raise, Malaysia has become a reality to me and it feels awesome.  Although God did not provide for me in the ways that I planned, boy did he provide in his own way and it is so much more satisfying. 

Please continue to pray for me and our team.  We still have a team deficit of about $7,500 and we dont want to stop until everyone is guaranteed to go.  As myself and others on my team have seen in the past week or two, if it is God's will, he will provide.  If he doesn't provide, then it wasn't his will.  It's that simple.  If we just remember that, then there is no reason why we should ever be disappointed or let down.  He puts us where he wants us, not the other way around.  Anyway I'll stop typing so you don't have to read for more than 5 minutes.  Please just continue to pray and watch as the God of the universe rocks your world....and mine too!


Slave to Righteousness

Dono