About a year and half ago I went through one of the hardest seasons of my life. My mother and I lost our home due to foreclosure. She had lost her job a few months earlier and we were struggling to make ends meet with my part-time job. Loosing the house and having to move into one of her friends spare rooms was pretty devastating for us, but little did we know that that was only the beginning of our troubles. Within a 3 month period after that I lost my job, my scholarship, my car broke down, and even my dog died, all one right after the other! I felt like I was in a country song! I felt like God had taken everything from me and He had. He even separated me from my friends and youth group, which I was very involved in. Worst of all He took the feeling of His presence away from me.

How do you handle that? Where do you go from there? I felt so alone and like such a failure. I was broken in every way, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically. Feelings of depression and anger started to stir up within me. I even became angry at God. I couldn't understand why He would allow this to happen to me. I had been serving Him faithfully for over 7 years and I had absolutely nothing to show for it. All I wanted was to see His promises, the ones in His word and the ones He had given me through several visions when I first got saved, come to pass in my life. But after 7 years of trying to work towards them, they seemed father away and more unreachable than ever. I wondered, was I so awful that even God had given up on me? Had He abandoned me just like everyone else? I must admit that devil had me entertaining those foolish thoughts for quite a while. I was still praying to God, but I felt like my prayers were just hitting the ceiling and bouncing back. Did He even care to listen?

It wasn't until one random day when I felt like I was going to explode from all the pressure that I decided I was just going to do the one thing that I was still good at, fighting and arguing! I started pacing the living room back and forth like a crazy maniac and figured the first person I was angry with was me and that I wanted to tell myself off. So I did, using various explicit words and derogatory phrases of course. Then, once I had done enough self bashing, I decided that it was God's turn to receive a piece of my mind, and oh He better listen! I proceeded to have a one-sided argument with Him about everything I had been feeling, and how unfair it all was. I questioned Him as to why and even questioned His love for me. The funny thing about arguing with God is that you know you can never win. He's always Going to be right!

After about a good 2 hours or so of none stop arguing, yelling, and crying, I found myself on my knees face down on the floor, snot everywhere! I had finally gotten all the emotions out of my system and was reminded of who God was. Now I was ready to sit still and listen. His response was simple, "I'm all you need!"

It took me loosing everything to realize that God is all I need. That He is my shelter and that He's the only one who will never leave me or forsake me. I learned that I should trust in Him no matter what circumstances I face. So now that I face the risk of being sent home early from the race, a thought which had honestly terrified me for quite some time, I will choose to think back on that time and remember what I learned.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again for your prayers and financial support and to apologize for not keeping you updated about what's been going on during the last four months of my journey on the World Race. I can assure you that God has been moving in powerful ways. I have witnessed and taken part in the sick being healed, the captives being delivered, the lost receive salvation, the homeless being fed, and clothed, and much more, and all of these things happened in part because of you.

Right now I find myself in Kachibora, Kenya, where the fire of God has been moving stronger than ever. This month has brought great challenges for my team (Appropriately named Freedom's Fire) and I. We have endured several physical and spiritual attacks, in fact as I'm writing this to you I'm stuck to an IV being treated for maleria.  : ) Through it all however, we have stood firm on the rock that is Jesus Christ and have come out and will continue to be victorious! God has allowed us to witness a community being transformed right before our eyes and we are forever grateful for the work He is doing through us and in us.

I come to you because I am certain that there is still much more to be done here in Africa and around the world for me. There are greater things to come and many more people to reach. Unfortunately I am at risk of being sent home early due to lack of financial support. In fact I now have only 4 days to raise $4500 or that will be the case. I recognize that this seems like an impossible task, but through God and the body of Christ all things are possible.

God has placed a righteous anger inside of me against the works of the enemy and a passionate love for the souls and I know that it is for this time. It is for Africa, the land I have been called too, and for Asia and Central America as well. So I ask that you please come alongside me to claim yet another victory in the name of the Lord! My prayer is that God would connect you to my heart and that you would see me as your daughter, your sister, your dear friend and would stand by me and support me as you would any of them. Dare to invest in me. Allow me to continue to be your hands and feet throughout the nations and to reach those that you are not be able to. Trust that the Lord is at work within me and that your sacrifice will not be in vein. I would never approach you with such boldness if I didn't believe with all my heart that it is God's will for me to continue the race. Throughout everything I've had complete faith in God and this situation is no different. However, the reality is I couldn't have gotten here without you, and I cannot continue without you now. I need you. I need your prayers and financial support.

To partner alongside me financially simply go to the following link: tp://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=ForAnmariRivera . To the best of my knowledge all danations made before September 30th will be matched.  For example, if you donate $50, $100 dollars will be deposited in my support account.  Also all donations can be tax deductable.

May God bless you ahead of time for your prayers and financial support. I pray that you be encouraged by this and that any contribution you make be returned to you a hundred fold! Let�fs watch God raise $4500 in 4 days! : ) 

With all my love and gratitude,

�

Dear Supporters and Friends,

I've been sitting in front of this computer in Kachibora, Kenya since 10:00 am this morning trying to organize my thoughts and figure out how to write this blog in a way that would help you understand all the wonderful and amazing things that God has done in the last four months. It is now 6:00 in the afternoon and I still have no clue how to put into words the things that I�fve experienced. Where do I begin? I should probably start with an apology for not keeping you updated about what�fs been going on during the last four months of my journey on the World Race. I can assure you that God has been doing miraculous and beautiful things through our squad and through me. He has revealed new sides of himself in each country and has showed off his power and love. I will go into greater detail about these things in other blogs which will be posted this week, but right now I must address an urgent matter.

With all my love and gratitude,