I’m fully funded! It has been less than 24 hours since I hit my goal of $16,257 (including both one time and monthly donors through December of this year) and I am still not quite sure how to react. I am not a jump-up-and-down kind of person but it does not mean I am any less ecstatic, grateful, and humbled.
This is a blog that I have thought about since day one but I had no idea when the time would finally arrive for me to write it. I started the journey of fundraising pretty much immediately after being accepted on the Race so from November until now it is something that has encompassed much of my time, energy, and prayer requests. I have, without a doubt, the most supportive family and friends a girl could ever ask for so I knew that I had a solid foundation of people around me. However, this was a totally different type of support than I had ever asked for in the past. I was confident that the Lord would provide through the amazing people in my life but that did not make it any less uncomfortable to ask. What’s even more meaningful to me is how the last 48 hours or so have unfolded. I want to tell a quick story without going into too much detail so as to protect those involved.
I had an opportunity to financially bless a squad mate and this was an opportunity with which I was really struggling. I was so close to closing out my fundraising that I went back and forth as to whether or not I should give this money to this person or honor the initial commitment I had made to put that money towards my own fundraising. For a couple of weeks I went back and forth about what to do. I even confided in a close friend of mine to help walk me through my options (you know, the whole external processor thing) and yet neither she nor I could could really come up with the “correct” answer. I finally just let it go and stopped thinking about it. I had actually forgotten about it then the situation was brought back up in conversation and I realized I had to make a decision. It took me about two minutes to think about it and I decided that the money should go to the person who needed it. I had an immediate peace about it and I never thought twice about it. The friend in whom I had confided never even asked me which decision I made; she just knew the decision was made.
Fast forward 24 hours to a lazy Friday night. I decided to reach out to a person from my past who is a very large part of my testimony. We had not spoken in quite some time and I wanted to catch up. We began talking about families, friends, jobs, and the World Race. Fundraising came up and without missing a beat she said, “Jennifer, why don’t I give you whatever you have left to raise? After all, I missed calling you on your birthday.” I had to laugh at her for thinking she needed to do that in order to make up for not calling me on my birthday…that missed phone call cost her hundreds of dollars…but she insisted.
I was in shock. I could not believe that, once again, I was witnessing my Father laying my path out in front of me, brick by brick. All I had to do was trust that He would provide when I made the decision to allow the Holy Spirit to direct my decision to give away the money just 24 hours earlier. Now, the amount I gave away was not enough to close out my fundraising but it was a good chunk.
I can honestly say that the Lord has strengthened my ability to discern His Will more in the past year than in my previous 30 years. I can hear Him telling me to do things almost as if He were standing right next to me and speaking the words directly to me. All I have to do is listen. He provides the answers every time. I fully believe He does the same for anyone who chooses to listen, but in our human fallacy we second guess what we are hearing. We often know the right answer but we get scared. The world calls it gut instinct, Christians call it the Holy Spirit.
I want to thank each and every person who has given generously of their time, efforts, finances, and prayers. There is no way that I will ever be able to repay each of you for your generosity but know that as I embark on this God Journey y’all are with me. This has been the most humbling experience of my life and has taught me so much about myself and who the Lord is leading me to be.
With all of this being said I have so many squad mates who are taking huge leaps of faith every single day in their fundraising efforts. I am trusting that God is going to provide for each of them in His own timing but I would be remiss if I did not reach out to my supporters. If you have the ability please consider giving to one of my incredible squad mates. These are people who have become family to me and have the same passion that I have to serve and love like Christ. If you planned on giving to me at some point in the future please consider redirecting that money to one of them instead. Should you have any questions about who might need help on my squad feel free to reach out to me. Z Squad, my suggestions will be based on the highest bidder so let the games begin…just kidding.
Training Camp is just 30 days away so please keep Z Squad in your prayers as we finally come together after months of getting to know each other over social media. We are anticipating challenges, breakthroughs, laughter, tears, discomfort, testimonies, lessons, but above all else God and his Mighty Hand on our squad as we go through final preparation for launch in September!
