27 Days Until Departure!

Greetings, loved ones! It is the twenty third day in December; two days until the grandest holiday of the year. Merry Christmas to you all! While we are on the topic of dates and timelines, I will be boarding an international flight to Australia in just 27 days. I received another update email from my church early today, informing me that I am just under $500 away from my fundraising goal. I also received a long awaited email from YWAM that has finally freed me up to apply for my Australian visa, which will be close to another $600. The Lord has blessed me greatly in allowing me to fund raise so successfully, but as I will have to purchase varied supplies once my team officially confirms what country our outreach will be in (supplies that I will have to buy on location, due to overweight luggage restrictions). Meaning - I am still quite tight on funds. Please pray that the Lord makes a way for me through this! The man who will be supervising and leading our team through our 5 months on missions just recently sent out a message to us all saying, in summary, that the Devil will be attempting to distress us, make our journey difficult, and, all in all, make this trip seem all but impossible in the upcoming month before we leave. I knew what he meant when he first advised us of this, and I am beginning to experience it first hand. While I am not inexperienced in fighting through the Devil's handiwork, it does not get any easier to wade through each time around. It is true that the Lord will be with us in times of trouble, but trouble still comes, and in those times we all too often forget to call out to Him. Thank you for your prayers in these matters! Your support means so much to me. Be blessed!

PS- As we prepare for our dinner guests tonight, an instrumental rendition of the song "Worthy is the Lamb" is weaving its way from our small stereo through our Christmas-cheer-filled home. It brings back memories of my childhood, living in upstate New York, when I would go on road trips with my brother and mother. You see, we would have to go on these "road trips" every time we wanted to get anywhere, including a grocery store, a clothing store, the dentist, etc.. My mother would play Christian music in the car as we traveled from our secluded town to anywhere of consequence, and "Worthy is the Lamb" was on a certain CD often set to replay. Wonderful memories, those!