Support Letter

Dear Friends and Family:

                I hope that this letter finds you well. Let me take a minute to update you on my life!  I am currently a sophomore at Illinois State University and am studying special education. I am very excited because next semester I will begin my major courses and will really start pursuing my passion of working with children with special needs. In addition to school and studies, I am involved in a ministry on campus called Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ). Cru is an international organization that meets on over 3,500 campuses throughout the world.  The Lord has used Cru over the past two years to grow my dependence on Him and break my heart for the lost on campus and around the world.

This summer, I have been given the opportunity to follow God’s call on my heart to Berlin, Germany. Berlin is considered to be a “hub for the nations.” Berlin is home to over 100,000 college students from nearly every country in the world. It also boasts the second highest population of Turkish people outside of the country of Turkey. By sharing the gospel and reaching students in Berlin, we really do have an opportunity to reach the world. My team of 15 college students and I will spend five weeks allowing the Lord to use us on the three main campuses in the city. In addition to this work, I will be blessed to acquire valuable leadership skills, to meet with a discipler, to grow in understanding of God’s word, and to gain experience that will help me become a lifelong laborer for Christ.

In order for all of this to be possible, I need to develop a team of Ministry Partners. There are two different but equally important ways that you can join my team to reach the city of Berlin, Germany and help expand God’s eternal kingdom.  The total cost of my five weeks in Berlin is $5700. Raising this amount of money is very scary and requires me to take a huge step of faith in relying on the Lord but I am confident that He will provide. Would you prayerfully considering coming alongside me with a donation of $100, $50, or some other amount? One other amount that I would like to challenge you to prayerfully consider is the amount of $150—the cost of all of my expenses for one day in Berlin. Of course, any donation is appreciated.

As I prepare, I ask for prayer that I would trust the Lord and that I would be confident that He is going to use my time there. While I am there, I ask that you pray for the health of my team, that we would bond well, for safety, and that any anxieties I have about sharing my faith would be calmed. I also ask that you would pray that the Lord would, right now, be softening the hearts of students we will talk to and opening the door for significant spiritual conversations.

Thanks for taking time to read and for your willingness to consider supporting me. Because I will be travelling internationally and it will be difficult for me to stay in contact, I will be regularly blogging to keep my supporters updated.  My blog link is: Godislightallisonneal.blogspot.com. Thank you again!

In Him,

Allison Neal

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yes! I would love to to partner with you in ministry to bring the gospel to university students in Berlin! 

• enclosed is a check made out to "Cru" for $___________
• I've given a gift of $__________ towards your ministry online at https://give.cru.org/068454
• I'm not able to give financially at this time, but want to pray for your summer project in Berlin. 
• I want to sponsor you for a day and have enclosed a $150 check. 
• I've included prayer requests or personal updates on the back ---->

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Gratitude.

Wow has it been a long time since I last posted.

I have been so insanely busy with exams since I need to do well this semester that I haven't given myself time to even think about my walk with the Lord or give thanks for the life he has given me. (Probably the biggest thing I have been realizing has been lacking in my life lately.)

Because of my exams and being so stressed I haven't really been in the Word which is something that typically I make sure is part of my day. Now that my exams are over I feel like I can breath a little but I definitely need to figure out how to balance school work and my time with the Lord.

I see such a difference in myself when I regularly am studying and digging into the Word in comparison to when that is lacking in my life. I find so much more joy in my life when I am daily spending time getting closer to the Lord.

Lately, even when I do spend daily time with the Lord I find myself just not feeling connected. Like there is some barrier between me and the Lord that is causing me to feel a lack of relationship. My whole life relies on a God that I can't seem to connect to right now.

My prayer is that I will find fulfillment in Christ whether or not I "feel" God because in reality is He is so constant that there is no struggle on this earth that could ever put a barrier between me and my relationship with the Lord.

I am reading a book right now which is at least helping me keep track with thinking about the Lord on a more consistent basis during the week. It is called 1,000 gifts and is a book about the importance of expressing thanksgiving to the Lord as a part of growing closer to Christ.

Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve we, as broken people, have dealt with feelings of ingratitude toward what God has given us.

For Adam and Eve they weren't happy with what God gave them in the garden and yearned for more, for something different, for something of the world they thought would make them more content with God.

For me, the struggle with ingratitude has left a major hold on my relationship with the Lord. I am discontent with the things that God has given me and struggle with the fact that Jesus' death on the cross and a personal relationship with Him has possibility to provide so much more satisfaction than anything else this world could provide.

Just the fact that Jesus did die on the cross is enough; on top of that he has given me wonderful friends who also love Jesus, a family, and the ability to have a personal relationship with Him. So why is there still this frustrating gap I feel between me and God?

I wish that I had the answer to this question. That's where I am at.

This weekend I am heading to Indy to go to a conference called Every Student Sent. I am so excited! It is all about continuing to follow the Lord after college and I have heard its wonderful!

Thanks for reading friends! :)
Love,
Allison

Forgiven.

This week has just been wonderful. There has been a handful of birthday surprises still coming in and some wonderful convictions and truths about the Lord being so evidently revealed.

Last night at the weekly meeting for Cru the speaker spoke so much truth into my heart. As my friend pointed out it is the coolest thing when you feel like you are the only one in the room during a teaching. It is as if the speaker is talking directly to you and right into your life. That was my feelings exactly last night.

It is crazy how the Lord uses something so hard to point out some tough sin issues.I have been struggling with my dad since I came back to campus and the sin that is behind that was made so clearly evident to me yesterday.

The topic was forgiveness. Something that is a major struggle for me. It is easy for me to hold bitterness and anger against people. I remember when I was dealing with my dad my senior year my mom would always tell me not to let my dad take up space negatively impacting my thoughts and my life. That is exactly what is happening...I am letting my problems with my dad occupy every aspect of my life without even realizing it sometimes.

Then came the huge reality check.

Matt (the speaker) started out by sharing that the nature of human relationships is that people will sin against  me and I will sin against other people. Yikes. It really stinks that this is how relationships on earth must be but man does it make me even more excited to be in heaven and to be thankful for the consistent relationship I can be in with Jesus while on this earth, and rest in the promise that he will never ever sin against me.

As Matt was introducing his message he said "Maybe your parents are divorced and one is being selfish towards you...". Boom. That is my life. It suddenly felt even more applicable to my life. So then my question was well how do I do this? I knew it wouldn't be an easy thing to do but I was excited to see how the Lord was going to speak into my heart through this message.

He shared that I have a debt I cannot pay on my own because of how many times I sin against God and therefore my only hope should be in relationship with Christ because only he can make payment for me, and he has. So cool!

In having this relationship with Christ my attitudes should change from having a hardened heart towards people who wronged me to being able to extend forgiveness because of the grace I have experienced in Christ.

He then touched on the topic of emotions. I am a super emotional person so this was actually super helpful. He said that my negative emotional response to something is a clear indicator that something is wrong, especially if you can't stop thinking about it. Going back to what my mom says-if these negative responses are pulling me away from other things I am clearly sinning. This was probably the hugest take away that I got from this message because it so true and I have never really thought about it before.

I will leave you one last thought about the message...Jesus is the only person who will ever forgive more than be forgiven. Can I get an amen?!

To completely switch topics I was journaling today and was just thinking where I would be if I hadn't found Christ. I would be in such a dark and lonely place and would try to be filling my heart with worldly things that would never satisfy this God-sized hole in my heart. It just made me extra thankful that I have been able to find full satisfaction in Christ and that I am no longer lonely. Praise God for his goodness and constant faithfulness.

One last thing- I put in my deposit to go to Berlin, Germany for five weeks this summer! Can't wait to see the ways the Lord is going to work there as well as here as we prepare to go! :)

Praise Jesus with arms wide open this week- He is worth it!

Thanks for reading! Love you all!
Allison