Encouragement from a Napkin...

I'm sitting here in the Panera Bread at the Summit in Birmingham...and I'm in awe. I shouldn't be, not after all the lessons God taught me this past year. He provides for our needs, and He brings us encouragement just when we need it.

I've had my laptop open here in Panera since 6:30ish. Besides the typical email correspondence and facebooking, I've been doing some major number crunching on the support raising. God has already provided in amazing ways through the prayers and generosity of so many of you, but my human mind often tends to focus on the ways He hasn't provided yet instead of the ways in which He has.

I've been looking at my contact list, planning my calls and meetings, ordering more postcards, and going through all the grunt work that support raising involves. It's not that I was particularly discouraged today, but I've definitely been wrapped up in the "how" today. Trying to figure out how I am going to make this work, rather than trusting and praying about how He will work it out.

Settled in at a table right by the front door, I look up to see a dear friend walk in. It was a welcome sight, as it's been far too long since we'd had a chance to talk, at least a couple years. We talked about what we were each doing, and I was excited to hear about what God was doing in her life. She asked about my internship with RUF, since she had heard about it on Facebook. We talked about it for a few minutes, and she was very interested and encouraging.

She was meeting someone for dinner, so we said our goodbyes. I returned to my business on the computer, plotting out my next busy week of support-raising. About an hour later, she was on her way out of the restaurant. She stopped by my table, and we said our "great to see you agains" and "good luck withs." As she walked back to the door, she left this napkin on my table:



















I didn't read the note until she had left, and I then realized that there was something tucked inside the napkin...it was a check for a generous amount of money.

All I could do was smile and give a wave through the window as she climbed in her car. What encouragement! Through this friend's love and generosity, God showed me this evening that I can do all this stuff to raise support, but He knows exactly where this money's coming from. In many cases, it's from places that I least expected. I certainly never expected a check in a napkin from a friend that I haven't seen in far too long...what a blessing!

There's still a good ways to go until I'm able to move to Knoxville, but what a wonderful encouragement to keep my eyes on God and trust Him for whatever else I need.

Support-raising has been an incredibly humbling experience, and I stand humbled and amazed tonight at the love and generosity of friends and at the marvelous and wonderful ways that our Lord works in our lives.

I hope this story will encourage you as much as it has encouraged me...especially to those of you who are in this same boat of support-raising.

In Christ,

Stephen