Ask and You Shall Receive

I hate sales. I once told a friend of mine, who was a fantastic salesperson, "I would rather die than do what you do." A little overdramatic, no doubt, but the thought of it really does give me the heebie-jeebies. And I'm sure I'm not alone, right? Don't they say that as far as human fears go, public speaking ranks just behind death? Public speaking, sales - It's all the same genre to me. So imagine my cold sweats when I decided to try to raise money to help me go to Costa Rica, which despite the bargain basement pricing, was still a good chunk of change for our family this summer. And imagine my further sweating when our team leader put me in charge of securing clothing donations for our team to take to Costa Rica. God sure does have a sense of humor. Lucky for me, He also equips the called rather than calling the equipped. I have been blessed to be surrounded by some very encouraging people in my life and a few of them prayed with me in April for the courage to ask.... and then became my very first supporters! Their initial support gave me greater confidence, and one friend's words repeated themselves whenever I felt cold-sweaty: "Don't deprive others of being part of this blessing that you are about to receive." Initially, I hoped to raise half of my costs, but as of today, I have received an overflowing of generosity that has nearly met my total cost for the trip. In addition, we have received an abundance of children's and women's clothes to take to Costa Rica and share with the communities around San Jose. I'm still collecting, but it looks like we'll have seven very large suitcases, full of donated clothing. Wow!!