Support Update! (and brief summer review)

Hello Everyone!

So today is the last day of July 2013? How does this always happen? This (as I say every year) has been one of the fastest summers of my life. But at the same time, I have had so many wonderful things come to pass in these two months. I was able to spend a month at home, catching up with friends/family/supporters, which was super revitalizing and encouraging. Never underestimate the healing power of being around people who love you. I was also able to spend time in College Station--filled with days on campus promoting RUF, days making support calls and sending emails, nights hanging out with students, a day on the Guadalupe river (so awesome), a couple days in Dallas celebrating America, Summer RUF gatherings with worship and time in the Word, days hanging out with students at the pool, one night of learning how to crotchet (thanks Megan!), and many more days and nights filled with sweet time around students and friends.

I just returned from RUF Staff training in Atlanta, one of the highlights of my job, and this time was no exception. Spending time around people who love Jesus, love the Gospel, love RUF and love students...that is just good for my soul. We had so many good seminars and training sessions, so much that I need to go back through all the material to process it and soak it up. I am so thankful for the other interns, the staff, the campus ministers ad just the overall organization. RUF has such a special place in my heart.

As far as a budget update goes...

Through your generous giving, I have raised around:

$17,000

To be able to stay through May 2014, I still need:

$11,500

 This means I am at: 

60%

To move back to College Station, I need (in one time gifts**),

$5,000

**pledges are still needed to get me through the rest of the year...But I do need money in the bank to carry me for at least 5 months. 


Praise the Lord for His faithfulness!!
Thank you for praying for me and for your sacrificial giving. I absolutely could not be a part of this ministry without your help! I am so eager to get back to A&M and meet new freshmen, plan fun "welcome back" events, see current RUF students and worship with my church family at Westminster!

Praise be to the God who is constant, perfect, sovereign and abounding in love.
James 1:17
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

Grace and Peace,
Anna

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Howdy to ya!

As a follow-up post to my most recent support update, I decided to spotlight a unique part of the support raising process: monthly donors. I plan on speaking to one-time givers in my next post but I thought it would be kind of cool to let y'all know why I find monthly donors to be such an encouragement. 

So often we look at our gifts, talents, possessions and skills and feel inadequate. Or if we feel confident, we only feel this way while our resources last--stuck always at the mercy of the potential absence of the thing that gives us our sense of ability and competency. 

Of course for His children, the Lord is redeeming both of these approaches. Both of which are completely man centered and not resting in the One who is able and willing and gives meaning to our being. 

As I aim for competency in my job as an intern, I fall short. Every time. But the Lord takes my weakness and displays His complete and perfect power. Not only that, but He works in the small. He works in the places where I wouldn't choose to brag. The places I'd describe as irrelevant and insignificant. 

It always blows my mind when people offer to help me in this ministry financially. And for some of you with words like, "it isn't much," you pass on a gift that you have received from the Lord and handed it to me. For my monthly donors, I watch you repeatedly hand me this gift, month after month, acknowledging that the Lord has blessed you so that you can bless others. I cannot tell you how many times I look at my donor report and see "So And So...$10" and think to myself, "They're with me, even still." I am so encouraged by your continued giving, month by month. You remind me that the body of Christ is a harmony of moving parts, all working together day by day to accomplish His will. 

And the truth of the matter is, you are all with me. In your prayers, in your gifts, even in your interest, you are with me. And better than that, He is with us, giving all of these things significance. 

As of right now I have $685 a month coming in. My goal is to have $2000 in monthly donations to cover my monthly costs (salary, benefits and administration). 

Would you consider becoming a member of my monthly donor team? All you have to do to set up a recurring gift is visit www.ruf.org/donate --enter your monthly amount and click the box that says "This is a recurring gift." You can also choose when you would like it to come out of your debit/credit account (1st of the month or 15th). 

Thank you to all who are a part of this great opportunity to share the love of Christ to college students!

-Anna

Support Update!

Hello all!

It is hard to believe it is already July! I have been in Texas for the past three weeks and I have never been more sure that it is summertime. Mississippi is hot, but Texas of course, is in a league of its own. I have one more week in College Station until I return to Mississippi for a week to work on support. Then I will travel to the ATL for training! SO excited. I will say that I am sad to leave Texas but I am even more excited to return in the fall. Whenever I am here and I get to spend time with students or even go on campus, it is so hard for me to believe that all this is really happening. I love my job. Let me say it again, I love my job. The Lord has been so gracious and merciful to put me in a place as welcoming as A&M and in a ministry that I truly, down to my core, believe in. I believe in this ministry because the hand of God is so tangible in it. As the Word is proclaimed and hearts are softened, there is only one answer for it all: God is at work.

As I continue to raise support, I ask that you consider supporting me financially in this next year. By the grace of God, I have raised about 43% of next years budget.

When you donate, you are investing in much more than my personal ministry. You are giving to a means by which the Lord is drawing His children to Himself. You are giving to a means by which the Lord is equipping His saints to go out into the world and preach the Gospel. You are giving to a means by which the Lord chooses the helpless, the hopeless and the wayward to carry His name and to carry out His plan of redemption. You are giving to a ministry that has impacted me personally in ways that I couldn't even begin to put into words. You are giving to a ministry that seeks to give students a safe place, for the convinced and the unconvinced, to ask questions...even the really hard ones.

I know He is at work because I have watched it day by day, the impossible happens.

If you feel compelled to give please visit www.ruf.org/donate and choose my name from the drop down menu. If you would rather mail a check, you can click on the support tab and find more information on how to do that.

Above all, I ask for you to pray. Where the Lord is at work, Satan is too. I feel the fiery darts; the whispers of fear and temptation. Please pray that I wold rest in Jesus...truly rest. Please pray against the Evil One. Pray for students to find peace at the foot of the cross.

Grace and Peace,
Anna

"He cannot He will not say 'Go'
But surely will take out thy stain."- Poor Sinner Dejected With Fear