I was poor as a student – I only had money to buy very
simple, humble food to live on while in college and had money for very little
else (I ate a lot of ‘ramen noodles’ as a student!). When I first heard about how much the cost
was to go on a student Christian retreat, I was so disappointed because I knew
that there was no way I could afford to go.
My Bible study leader quickly reminded me that God owned ‘the cattle on a thousand hills’ (Ps.
50:10) – and since He was so rich as to own thousands of large herds of cows,
surely He could afford to give me the $30 (1,000 rubles) to go on the
retreat. I asked Him if He would provide
the money for me. My Bible study leader
set up an appointment for me to go to talk to a business man in our community
and tell him why I wanted to go to the student retreat but that I didn’t have
the money to go – and he quickly pulled out his wallet and handed me $30. I then understood that God was bigger than
$30!
The next amount I had to trust God for was $200 (6,000
rubles) to go to the Winter Bible Conference…so I prayed and waited on God and
talked to some believers in my church about the opportunity I had to be
challenged to grow in my relationship with God – and they pulled out their wallets
and I ended up with the $200 needed to pay for conference registration. And now I was certain that God was bigger
than $200!
A few years later I was leading a Bible study and a girl
named Sandy was in my group. She wanted
to go the Winter Bible Conference, but money was an issue for her as well. I told her how God had proved Himself
faithful to provide for me, so we prayed, she wrote some letters (explained
below) to some believers, waited to hear from them. The day came to get on the bus to ride up to
the conference site which was 3 hours away.
She had only $250 of the $350 (10,000 rubles) needed to pay for the
conference…but she was so convinced that God wanted her to go to the conference
that she believed He would provide along the way somehow. In an act of faith, she start climbed up the
steps to the bus with her suitcase in hand…and someone on the bus handed her
the last $100 that she needed for the conference registration! God proved Himself faithful to her! Sandy knew that God was bigger than $350.
Over the years I had had to trust God to provide financially
for me. As a missionary, my salary is
provided through people who give financially to me every month. I once figured out that, counting all the
money needed for international mission trips plus the money I received to live
on as a long-term missionary, that God will provide around $1,000,000 for me
during my lifetime. I know that God is
bigger than $1 million dollars!
(Of course sometimes God has provided without me asking
anyone to consider being a part financially of His provision. Most of the time, though, God has provided as
I trust Him and step out in faith to ask others to help financially.)
How big is your God?
Is He bigger than 4,500 rubles?
Raising funds
for conferences will direct you to some things you can do, similar to what
Sandy and I did, to ask God to provide and to provide through other
people.
·
Pray and ask God if He wants you to go to the
Winter Bible Conference.
·
Check out the information about raising funds
for retreats and conferences.
·
Start following the advice listed out in the
materials there.
·
If you have any questions, please send them to
me: catalist@promail.ru. I will do all that I can do to help you
trust God in this area.
Of course I will be praying for you and will be anxious to
hear how God is showing Himself bigger than you ever imagined. I can’t wait to hear your stories of God’s
faithfulness to you!
