All kidding aside, it’s not easy asking people for money. It’s not easy subjecting yourself to rejection when people say no. It’s not easy waiting and praying and wondering if God is going to provide. But it is easy to grow discouraged when people refuse to support me. It is easy to get frustrated when I hit obstacles preventing me from getting the word out. It is easy to doubt how I’m going to raise all this money.
As many of you know my CHICK-FIL-A fundraiser did not turn out as well as I’d expected. I am grateful so many people came and I got to visit with a lot of great friends and family though. At first I was disgruntled with how little I made, but received a quick rebuke from a close friend (and from God of course) that I should be grateful for ANY amount no matter how small. I should be thanking Him for every penny!
I got foolishly angry with a church for not letting me pass out flyers for the event, thinking “what’s the big deal?” I felt extremely hopeless, like it was all going to be for nothing. And I blamed the church. And soon all the pain from when I'd been hurt by certain members of that church came screaming up in a sinful fit of rage. God soon revealed to me just how much of a hypocrite I was being. Here I was judging and blaming the entire church for just a few actions a few people had done. I suddenly realized a pattern in my life; how each church I’d gone to in the past and eventually left, I had leftover bitterness towards the way I had been treated, not even realizing I was doing the one thing I loathed; just as I’ve always grown defensive and angry when other Christians expected me to be perfect, I was placing these people and these churches on the same pedestal. I was judging them for not being perfect. God was showing me a HUGE plank lodged in my eye. (Matthew 7:3-5) However, I was also upset for not getting my way; another reoccurring message from God these days…ouch!! Rebuke received God, lesson learned.
I am not in control; I cannot control other people’s actions. God has shown me lately that HE is ultimately my provider, and that He is ultimately in control of raising the money for me. Obviously He uses people of course; we are His hands and feet.
Sometimes I worry that most people are reluctant to give because they just assume it’s to help me travel the world for 11 months… but it will be so much more than that. This isn't going to be some easy vacation. My team and I will be traveling to places of extreme poverty, to people unloved and forgotten in AIDS/HIV infected areas, to places overflowing with orphans and discarded children, to witness firsthand the abused victims of the human trafficking trade.
These are hard hard places to go to…but I know that Jesus has already gone before me. He is there waiting for me and my team to meet Him there in those dark and lonely places…to be the light, to be His voice and arms to share the love and mercy of God to these people that He died for; to provide hope where there is none, to provide love where hearts have grown cold and bitter, to break bondages where freedom has been stolen. We are all His hands and His feet. And in a way, through giving, you’ll also be doing all of these things. Whether you believe in God or not, He sees your donation and I believe honors it just as much as doing the service yourself.
So my prayer is that God would stir your heart to help support me on my World Race missions trip… whether it’s $5, $20, $50, or $100, or any other amount, monthly or one-time.
God was faithful to meet my goal of $3,000 by August 1st, now my prayer and goal is to raise at least $7,000 by October 1st. I’m actually only $2,700 away from that!! Will you help me meet that goal??? If you're financially able, please consider giving, even if it's just $5. I would be forever grateful, for every last penny!
“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”– Jeremiah 32:27
