(That Man being Jesus lol) Alright, to recap on a few things, I came out to Kansas City to go to the International House of Prayer University in the Forerunner Music Academy. And I enrolled in August and completed my first semester and it went amazingly well! Academically I did really well and ended up completing the semester with a few 100%s, a 92%, and an 86% in my classes. And on a heart level, the Lord just blew me up on all kinds of levels. Trusting Him, increasing my capacity to receive from Him, learning how to lean on Him, witnessing all the times He’s come through financially & remembering His promises when things looked crazy. And in the midst of all of that, His promises were all I had to cling to, because things began to soon look CRAZY! As my second semester crept closer and closer I was made more and more aware that I just didn’t have the money to be able to pay for it. I prayed and prayed and asked God for financial breakthrough but hadn’t seen any change. This was also during the last month of preparation for “The Dream of A King” and so it was a pretty intense time. (There's a whole post on that!) But at the same time the Lord would always remind me of His promises and would tell me to just trust Him and remain faithful with what was placed before me. And so I continued seeking His face concerning the play and began to stress less and less about finances for school. It came down to the last day or so before the 2nd semester’s tuition was due and the closer it got to the final date, the more I began to set my heart to possibly not being in school for the semester and was at peace with that because I knew that if the Lord wanted me to be there then He’d provide the money. And if He had other plans for me for those next few months then I would follow. I was actually feeling pretty joyful and excited for whatever else the Lord had in mind!
The first day of school began and I felt pretty good. I knew then that He definitely had other plans and my heart was still set on those plans. And through many prayers and support from friends and family I was able to pay the amount that I needed to be able to remove the financial hold that was on my account and the slate was clean. I wasn’t able to even register for my 2nd semester classes until the hold was lifted, and that didn’t happen until school had already began (how strategic of the Lord lol oh don’t worry…it gets better! Haha--->). So my debt had been paid, I felt free as a bird and excited for whatever else it was that He had planned for me. Somewhere along the way, a friend let me know that they had be able to work out a unique situation with financial aid to be able to set a different date to pay, which allowed them to be able to stay in classes and pay after the original deadline (which was not something that usually happened for everyone). So, knowing that I had some support coming in soon from friends I wondered if that would be a way that the Lord was going to get me back into school! So I spoke with financial aid advisors and worked it out so that I could register for classes and have extra time to get the tuition paid. I was in classes for a week and thought sure that the Lord would slap enough money in my lap to be able to do the semester. And so at this point my heart was set back to being in school. I thought “Oh wow Lord! That was crazy but I’m so glad that I was able to get back in! Amen!”. I had a bunch of people praying for me that I’d get the rest of what I needed and it all seemed so sure. All the while, the Lord wanted me to trust Him. And so I continued to pray and send out emails and messages to be able to raise enough before my postponed deadline. And it came all the way to the morning of the last day and I didn’t have enough. A friend of mine had started telling me throughout those last 2 weeks and more steadily in the last few days that He had felt that my focus should be on my rent rather than putting the money towards the semester. And of course I initially thought that was whack (lol) because now I wanted to stay in school, but still wondered why he felt so sure of it. Little did I know, the Lord was wanting me to actually put it towards rent and allow Him to continue with what He already had planned. ::suspense:: .... :-O
So it came to pass that I didn’t have enough to begin the semester. The financial advisors prayed over me and said that they knew I’d be back and that the Lord’s plans for me would be fulfilled. And after withdrawing that morning and handing in my student ID badge, I proceeded to sit in my car and cry. I cried and cried and hated the fact that I had to set my heart back to not being in school. There had been such a flurry of emotions within that week and at that point I just wanted to feel a sense of certainty in the direction that I was going in. I was devastated and didn’t know what to do as I sat in my car and watched the rain fall on my windshield as I watched students walking with their guitars into their worship team labs. I remember being so upset that I was even allowed to be in school for that week. That week brought back my desire to want to be at IHOPU and at that point I wish that I had never even went for that week, and maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so much! I thought about all the emails I had sent out to people, and in each one I was more excited than the previous about how the Lord was opening up another door, but then how I was back in school, and now I had to send out another to let everyone know that I wasn’t in school again. This went on in my mind for a few hours, thoughts of “what now??” and “What am I supposed to tell everyone now?”. I spent a long time away from everyone and talked to the Lord for a while, and later on I ended up being encouraged a lot hanging out with one of my friends and then going to the Encounter God Service that night. In the midst of worship, I began to hear the gentle whisper of the Lord, reminding me of His promises. He completely filled me with joy, peace, and confidence in His promises towards me! That night pretty much marked Romans 15:13 in my heart and I actually began to experience that within my own heart!
“I pray that God, the source of hope will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
It was so crazy how the Lord just swooshed in and removed all doubt, fear, anger, uncertainty, and sadness. I was strangely joyful and calm in the midst of a time where I would have otherwise felt like things were falling apart. He’s so gracious and kind to remind me of what He told me and to reset my heart and my gaze on Him. From that point I was able to finish up prepping for the play with a heart that was full of joy, peace, and understanding that although my plans were changing, His plans were still in motion.
We finished the first performance that Wednesday and it went so amazingly well! The next day, the 16th, was my birthday and I asked the Lord to surprise me and knew that what ever He planned would be awesome. And so Thursday’s show went even better. All the while showing me His faithfulness in helping me remember lines and helping me to capture what I needed to for my character and speak forth His message. Our 2nd showing was finished and we all were backstage removing makeup and celebrating another successful performance, talking about all that the Lord was doing backstage and in the audience. I’m receiving “happy birthday’s”, balloons, and cupcakes from cast members when Jaye Thomas (the pastor in the play) walks in and says “We’ve got some big news for you!!!” Standing with cast members and friends, Jaye proceeds to read his email and it’s from Pablo Perez, the director of FMA. He talked about how he loved the play and how the program wants to combine efforts with Heart of David in conveying the Lord’s heart and all of these other awesome things. And towards the end he called me out and said that if I wanted to return to FMA then I’d have a fully paid scholarship to attend for the rest of my time in school…………………………………. 8-|
I don’t know if you caught that, but the Lord gave me a FULLY PAID SCHOLARSHIP TO THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER UNIVERSITY to be in the FORERUNNER MUSIC ACADEMY!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! ::jumps & screams in the back of the prayer room but quickly realizes the spirit is being quenched for others and sits back down:: <--LOL! ::breathes:: I don’t know how He did it, but the Lord ended up providing for me after all!! And not just enough to scrap up to pay for a semester, but enough to pay for FOUR YEARS worth of schooling!!! He really does want me here and He provided for me because He loves me! I’m not even sure what all needed to happen in order for me to get that scholarship, but you can ask Pablo Perez about that ;-) haha
So yeah, that’s what happened. The Lord is faithful to the utmost. His track record CONTINUES to be impeccable and I trust Him with everything. He’s so good to us, even when we get upset about how things look. He continues to remain faithful even when we question what’s going on. He remains steady and the best thing to do is to just TRUST HIM and LOVE HIM!! He had all of this planned from the beginning! ::sigh:: He’s so wise (^_^)
So school is all set (Praise God!) and I have been praying about what He has in mind for these next few months. I’ll be starting back with school in the Fall semester and until then I really want to use my time wisely and continue to let Him lead me. And now all that I need to have taken care of would be my rent and living expenses (which I’m certain that He’ll also provide for!!) And as for open doors, He’s brought me into a group called The Cry, which is a new vocal ensemble coming out of IHOP and headed up by Jaye Thomas, and I’m SO excited about that!! But I’ll talk more about that in another post ;-) But anyway, I just wanted to share that testimony. It’s really a testimony of the faithfulness of Jesus and His willingness to provide for His beloved ones! So for those of you who have been asking for the Lord to bring financial breakthrough, keep SEEKING, keep ASKING, and keep TRUSTING THE LORD!! Because He sure is faithful to complete the work He’s started.
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