“Our fears, anger, and anxiety reveal the gods we trust, serve, and worship in place of the true God.”

– Alfred Poirier, The Peacemaking Pastor

One of Reconciled World’s core principles is “Depending on God.” In truth, this principle is core to all Christians everywhere. (Hey, we never claimed to be cutting edge.)

The fact is, all of us depend on God whether we want to or not. “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) We literally wouldn’t be breathing without God holding us together. But…let’s be honest, breathing *feels* like something I can handle on my own. I often forget my state of total dependence.

But depending on God goes from “yawn” to “breathe into this bag” real fast when we’re dealing with money. Maybe that’s why Jesus talked about it so much. And maybe that’s why God thought it would be good fun to make me “the money girl” at RW.

Despite protesting and whining, I have somehow ended up as the Director of Resource Development for Reconciled World. Honestly, I’ve always considered myself more of a words person than a number-cruncher, and happier with a book than interacting with other humans. Nevertheless, here I am, tasked with making sure that God’s work at Reconciled World has the funding to keep on going.

I’m going to be straight with you–depending on God as an idea is beautiful and joyful. Depending on God in practice, when people running ministries are assuming you’ve got the money bit taken care of, is SCARY. But the alternative is depending on myself, and that is WAY scarier.  

Do you remember the movie Back to the Future? Remember when Marty told Doc that they just needed 1.21 gigawatts of power to work the time machine? And Doc freaked out and ran out of the room screaming, “1.21 GIGAWATTS?!” That’s how I feel every year when Anna hands me the organization’s budget.

Then I start to pray. And I call my coworkers and tell them to pray. And basically we all just keep praying until we look back at the end of the year and say, “Well what do you know? God showed up again.”

Depending on God is not optional. It’s the only possible way this thing is going to happen. Because I am not capable of generating 1.21 gigawatts or 1.21 millions of dollars…or really 1.21 of anything. I’m not smart enough. I’m not resourceful enough. And I don’t know enough people with the last names “Gates” or “Zuckerberg”.

But I know God, and that’s way better.

So here’s a fun story about depending on God at Reconciled World…a glimpse behind the curtain, if you will.

In March 2014, the leadership team had several days of meetings. We received a word from the Lord–TELL THE STORY. (This needs to be in all caps, because it wasn’t a “still small voice” situation; it was loud and clear). We said, “Cool! But HOW are we supposed to tell the story?”

There’s the low-tech stuff–you know, moving our mouths and putting words on paper. We do that. But somebody pointed out that we really ought to have some videos that tell the stories, since we live in the 21st century and all that.

The trouble is, creating videos takes talent, skill, equipment, and clear vision. We had zero percent of those things. We discussed our options, and discovered we had none. As a brand new baby organization, we weren’t (still aren’t) sitting on a pile of cash earmarked for PR.

So the leadership team basically said, “Well, if God wants us to have videos, then He’ll send us a videographer who wants to work for free.” Then we all had a good laugh.

Still chuckling, we prayed for God’s provision. And one day, about a year later (I bet you already know what’s coming, don’t you?), someone contacted us out of the clear blue sky and said, “I love what RW is about, and I’d like to create some videos for you for free.”

And guess what is happening *right now* as I write this? Yeah, that person is in India getting footage for *videos*.

That’s just the kind of crazy stuff that happens when you’re depending on God. I bet you have some great stories of your own. We’d love for you to share them in the comments here or on Facebook. Because here’s the thing: retelling the stories of what God has already done for us, and hearing each other’s stories of God’s amazing saves, bolster our courage to depend on Him right now.

We need courage, dear Readers. Because depending on God is scary…and beautiful and joyful…and totally worth it.

 
Icon created by Jamil Ramirez from the Noun Project