Celebration: {Day 6} Jessica's Story

We have an abundant God!  He doesn't necessarily answer every prayer for provision the way we expect, but He is capable of so much more than we often give Him credit for.  Jessica tells her experience of abundant grace.

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I'm halfway through Children's Ministries Institute (with Child Evangelism Fellowship) right now, and didn't even know I was coming until about four months ago.  I'd thought about it over a year ago, but kind of decided it wasn't for me.  But this summer, several people encouraged me to go, and told me there was a half scholarship for this fall session.  I realized I really didn't have a good reason not to go, so I applied, telling God, "I'll go if You want me to, but You'll have to give me the money."  Even with the scholarship, there was no way I could afford it -- my summer was already committed to ministry, so I couldn't possibly earn the money.  Before I knew whether I was accepted, I met a CEF missionary from East Africa who's been a legend to me since I was a child, and she encouraged me and prayed with me for God's direction and provision.  I had been thinking about being a translator since May, but didn't really know what that meant or which language to study.  When I heard from her that one of the biggest things slowing down ministry was translation of materials into Amharic (spoken in Ethiopia . . . and by my dear Ethiopian aunt), everything clicked.  But I still didn't have money.  I got accepted and wrote some support letters, and it started coming in, slowly but steadily.  Finally, the Sunday before I was to leave, I was fully funded.  But that wasn't all -- the day I left, my quiet 15-year-old brother handed me an envelope with over $1,300 that he had raised for me!  Since then, others have continued to give, and I actually have ended up with about double what I needed for CMI -- I wouldn't even have needed the scholarship.  God has taught me so much about His ability to provide beyond my wildest dreams, and completely changed my attitude about support-raising for full-time missions.  I'm excited to see what He will do with me!

Jessica S.