November Update

Ministry is great and I have so much to be thankful for, but honestly, it's also pretty rough sometimes and this month, I have a lot of prayer requests. I want to tell you about what God's been teaching me, a few great blessings, and then share some more difficult things.

First, something God's been teaching me about - suffering for the sake of Christ
This is an ongoing discussion we've been having as a staff team. My biggest question was, what if my life is just going great? Does that mean I'm not following God well? I've been praying about it and earlier this month I feel like God answered me. There were several days back to back when I felt particularly burdened by other people's struggles. And I realized that that is part of suffering for Christ. We should put ourselves in situations where we risk getting hurt sometimes if we're doing it to love other people. And I don't say that to preach at you. It was a pretty shocking realization to me, because I am typically such an upbeat, happy person. But I've been praying that God lets me suffer for his sake and I feel like I'm starting to get a glimpse of that.

Next, here's a few great blessings.

I got to 100% support!! Thank you all so much for giving! It really means a lot. Typically, a few pledges that are made don't end up coming in, but so far, those numbers are extremely low and I'm on track to receive almost all of it, and I just wanted to say you are all wonderful for making that happen. There's no way I'd be able to do this without you.

A couple core girls (me, Meridithe, Vanessa and Maserati) at our Halloween party

My core girls are awesome. They show up super consistently and participate well and we always wind up hanging out for way too long and it's great. And the friendships being developed are real and vulnerable and all about Jesus, which is so rare. 

This is Vanessa. I've talked about her before. She's still great. Very much a light in my life and I'm super grateful that I get to lead core with her. 

Okay I will admit this is not specifically ministry, but you're all my friends anyway so I figured you wouldn't mind. This is Matt. He's pretty great and has been very uplifting recently and I'm super grateful. We took a trip to Colorado with some other FOCUS alum and it was a lovely break in the middle of the school semester. I feel like I really got to relax and rejuvenate and was more ready to go back into ministry because of it. 

This is the Collin staff at our Halloween outreach event at the Spring Creek campus. We gave out hot dogs and candy and played outdoor games and got to talk to a ton of people. It was a pretty neat source of life on an otherwise relatively dead campus. 

Now to some serious stuff. I won't give many details to protect the people involved, but I would like to ask you to pray for the following things.

- The couple of girls I'm working with who are really depressed or anxious, and are seeking godly help for it, but don't yet seem to be getting much relief
- Young dating couples working hard to have good boundaries and stay pure
- Non-Christians who are distantly involved in our ministry but haven't made a personal commitment to Jesus
- The couple of girls who have lost a close relative or a close friend to unexpected death
-Young people who haven't yet figured out what it means to be a good friend or resolve conflict well

Finally, I'd love prayer for myself as well. I'm currently thinking through what God might want me to do next year, whether it's full time ministry again or something completely different. There are lots of things to be considered, so please reach out if you have more specific questions about anything, or would just like more information.

Thanks so much for reading the updates and for your consistent prayers. I hope God blesses you this month!

- Abbie



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