Promises; $ and college.

It is so hard not to get caught up in the life of this world, especially when trying to plan for your future. They tell you you gotta be rich, make lots of money, have a good paying job, don't go into debt, blah blah blah. 
Well you know what, I have a God who's bigger than this world. 
And sometimes, I have to constantly remind myself of that.
Let me take you into the world of Jessica, as of late.


One year at college: Approx. $30,000.


$30,000-for just ONE year!
I have been given one scholarship for $10,000 (which is a complete blessing, and was a shock and honor!), and another for $1,500.  I'll let you do the math on how much I have left to come up with. 
The last blog entry I had titled "Promises".. in reality, this post is what has been on my heart lately in terms of promises. 
It's really hard for me to tell people that I'm going away to a private college and going to need to take out a lot in loans- when they ask me what I will be studying. For those of you who don't know, Cross-Cultural Studies is my major, and most likely with the focus on Transformational Community Development. It's a really fancy way of saying missions. (OK, it's more than just fancy, because the major actually is slightly different, as there is also just a World Missions major offered, but you get the idea.) So here's where the hard part lies; my potential carreers aren't exactly mind blowingly high profit. They're actually on the complete opposite scale of things. So when I think about having to take out about $19,000 just for one year, you could say it worries me a lot. But here's where the promises part comes in. 

A passage in Matthew 6 (25-34) says this;
 " ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

   ²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

The reason I'm even going to Simpson to study this is because it's where I feel God has led me to. Almost exactly a year ago, I didn't know what I was supposed to do. 50% of me wanted to do a BLS with YWAM Brisbane and the other 50% wanted to go to college. I prayed and prayed and tried to figure out where I was supposed to go, and after something happened on outreach, I felt so strongly that college was where I was supposed to be. And through a series of events, I applied to Simpson, was accepted, and discovered the amazing major that I will be studying! When I discovered the Cross-Cultural Studies major, it was the same kind of feelings that happened when I was trying to figure out where I was supposed to go for DTS, and visited YWAM Brisbane's website for the first time and read about it-I just KNEW that was where I was supposed to be! There was something in my spirit that resonated "YES!" And because of my such strong feelings of this is where God wants me (Simpson University), I just have to trust that He will take care of the finances-even though right now it seems fairly hopeless.

I also have been lucky enough to have had such an amazing experience to help me along the lines of faith and finances. (If you haven't heard all of the amazingness of how He provided for me on DTS, ASK ME I WILL TELL YOU!)  
So basically, all I know is this. It may seem crazy to be going to school for a ministry degree that won't provide me with enough money to logically be able to pay off my ridiculous amounts of loans, and I don't know quite why God wants me there, but He does-So He's going to take care of it! And even though at times it's oh so very hard to keep faith that He will provide, I can remember that

 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

(Romans 8)

And this is one of the biggies that has been on my heart lately!

Thank you for reading :)