They all ate and were satisfied. Matthew 15:37
Christmas is coming. After Christmas is New Years'. This year, we are going to Florida for New Years'; our National Conference (NC10) for our students is being held in Orlando this year. As NC10 approaches, we are seeing that we have fewer students going than we had originally anticipated. We know it's not about the numbers, but sometimes it's a little discouraging to set a goal we know we can reach, and watch it dissipate from our grasp. I was praying about so many things today that worry me. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I'm not where I want to be - I get so concerned with where my ministry is, where my fundraising is, where my spiritual life is, and where I am in particular, that I worry too much about the next step. This is hilarious, because I am not a planner by nature. Anyone who knows me well can tell you that. The beauty of it all is that God has a greater plan than anything I could ever come up with. The souls who will be boarding our bus to go to NC10 are a hodge-podge of personalities that I would have never put together on a bus to Florida. While there are only 25 of them, there are about twelve in that group that I would have never expected to go to conference!
God reminds us daily of His boundless mercy and generosity. The passage above was mentioned in my Word Among Us devotional this month. Funny story, I wouldn't have this if it wasn't for Fr. Bob's homily this weekend pointing out the books in the back (being free of charge, of course. Don't worry, my faithful mission partners; I am being very frugal!). The verse reminded me of something: "God will never be outdone in generosity." He fed 5,000 people a nice sit-down dinner; they ate until they were full! How can I be worried about my finances, worried about conference, worried about the bus, when God can definitely handle it! That was a big, "Geeze, Manda!" moment.