I am SO thankful and excited to share the news that I have met and exceeded my fundraising requirement to Adventures in Missions for the World Race!
What a journey this has been. Short term mission costs are usually in the few thousands; so when I applied to the World Race and saw the amount was over $16,000 I was pretty intimidated. As you may recall, there have been deadlines along the way: $5,000 by May, $10,000 by July, $13,000 by September, and the total $16,961 by November.
Getting to the first deadline of $5,000 was SCARY! The money came in waves. I’d have a few days to a week of e-mails regarding donations coming in. Then it’d be quiet for another week or so… I imagined the donations flooding in as soon as I shared the big news with people in March. But that didn’t happen either. All in all, I had to trust and believe if God called me to this mission, He would surely provide the funds.
On the evening of the first deadline, my finances were settled and calculated and I was at $5,220. I knew the Lord had his hand over the finances because “22” is a significant number to me. After meeting the first deadline within hours, I knew I had to change my perspective on the whole fundraising “job” for it to be successful.
I began thanking God for EVERY donation that came through, in any amount, because it ALL counts. Rather than receiving a donation and thinking, “When will I get another?” or “I wish it was more”, I was simply thankful for what I did have. It’s amazing how changing my perspective and treating this task like a serious commitment, changed the progress of my funds.
When I think about how intimidating the deadline was, or the number of people who told me that amount seemed lofty, I know this wasn’t successful because of much of anything I’ve done. But because of the faithful people who gave and God’s plan to get me here. When I look back, it seems the funds flowed gradually from $5,000 to now, meeting every deadline well in advance.
I owe endless gratitude to those who have supported me financially. I literally received donations varying in amount from $1-$1,000 and I appreciate EVERY. PENNY.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for every contribution and prayer over my funds which has helped me reach this point.
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”
Malachi 3:10
“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?… But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?… But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:26,30,33-34
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Proverbs 3:5
(There will be additional ways to support me on this mission which I will share in future blogs/posts.)
