Cody and I heard about the World Race in May 2012. My best friend “accidentally” came across it while sifting through blogs of a world photographer. She is constantly trying to get Cody and I to travel the world and knew this would catch our attention because it is a mission trip.
I remember looking at the website, knowing there was NO way we could afford a trip like this. We stared at the computer screen for a few minutes and then simultaneously looked at each other and said, “Lets do it anyway.” 2 months later we were accepted. Then came the hard part… telling our parents.
Some of our family struggled a bit to support our decision. They feared that it was an irresponsible decision financially and methodically. After all, $32,000 is A LOT of money and can you really make a difference in each country in only a month?
Now, imagine the struggle when we felt the Lord telling us to sell everything we owned. I won’t lie, it was discouraging to have family members telling us we were irresponsible and that we needed to face the fact that we would never come up with enough money. But we knew what the Lord had told us and trusted His faithfulness. His Word says that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. $32,000 is a pretty big mountain. Our faith was made stronger by those who came alongside us to help in anyway possible. So, we worked hard, fund raised a lot, and sold everything we could.
2 days before we left home, our brother-in-law asked “Do you really think you will come up with the money to stay out for the full 11 months?” The realization that were people around us who expect this to fail really hit me. Yes, we knew God would provide. He was the One who told us to do it in the first place! I began praying that the Lord would use our journey to reveal something to our loved ones back home. We can trust that we hear the Lord’s voice and that when He calls us to do something, He will provide.
We left the U.S. still in need of about $20,000. We weren’t even close to being guaranteed to stay on the Race. But somehow, our deadlines were being met. We headed into May in need of about $9,000. We had 2 months until our last deadline on July 1. In June, as I would pray, I kept seeing the number 86%. I felt like God was telling me that is where we would be at the end of our stay in Cambodia.
I told Cody about it and then contacted the AIM office and told them what I felt. We knew it wasn’t full amount needed, but this is what God was telling me. The night before Cody and I were to be reunited in Phenom Penh (we were serving at different locations for the month) our account sat at 86%. This was confirmation that He had it under control.
We arrived in Vietnam with only a week until the final deadline. We were not worried about it at all. We knew that God had been speaking to us and the office would extend our deadline, if necessary.
On the morning of July 1, we looked at our account. We were amazed to see that we had $32,500 in it. A young lady from our youth group had donated $500 and someone we didn’t even know had donated $4,500… We were fully funded! In fact, we were more than fully funded! We were completely beside ourselves. We hadn’t expected it at all.
We both just started crying. After all of the hard work and discouragement, God had come through in His plan for us. We were so excited that people who had previously, questioned our decision could now see that it truly had been the Lord’s voice calling us. As it that wasn’t enough, to make it that much sweeter, He adds an extra amount just because He can. Our God is almighty and faithful!
We would like to thank everyone who has supported us along this journey. We wouldn’t be able to do this without your prayers and financial help. Thank you for allowing yourselves to be used by God. We are honored that you felt our calling was important enough to support. We hope that you have been blessed, in some way, by this experience too. Know that even the smallest contribution in the Kingdom is multiplied abundantly. Thank you for having faith with us.
Your Brother and Sister in Christ,
Cody and Stephanie
