Fundraising is hard.
I can tell you already that I don’t like it (and I have 8+ months left of it). It makes me uncomfortable. It makes me cringe. It makes me feel out of control and powerless. It makes me question why I want to do the World Race.
It challenges me.
But above all, it’s a tool that God is using to shape me for the journey ahead.
That’s right. Fundraising is hard because God is using it to shape each and every World Racer for our 11-month journey of hope, healing and love.
Do I fear not making my goal? YES.
Am I relying on my God-given abilities to raise the funds to answer His call? YES.
Do I have faith that He will provide? …yes?
As I struggle to find the words to say; the vulnerability to ask for support; the courage to confront my fears, God nudges me and asks, “Do you have faith?”
Well, yes, Lord! That is what this journey is all about – Answering your call, having faith that you will provide and use me to bring your Kingdom to earth!
“Then why are you afraid?”
Can I be honest? I am terrified of what you will think. No, not God, but you. My friends and family; the stranger reading this post; the squad-mate who sees through me. I am terrified that you will not support me on this mission because I have projected my own self-image on you and expect you to feel what I feel; to see what I see. That I am not “good enough”, “Christian-enough”, “kind enough”, “smart enough”, etc.
But that’s not what He sees in me. To God,I am enough.
2 Corinthians 3:5 – “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”
Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
So to His first question, “Do you have faith?”
Yes, Lord. I have faith and I pray for you to change my heart to see that I am more than enough. That you called me for a reason and that you will provide the financial, spiritual and moral support needed for the year ahead.
“Then learn to lean on others, as I ask you to lean on Me.”
That, my friends, is how I hear God calling me to use fundraising. It’s not just the means to support our partners in the 11 different countries that I’ll be visiting, but a tool that He is using to break my heart for Him.
In one of my very first posts I mentioned how I prefer to be “self-sufficient”. That won’t stand while I’m working in an orphanage in Swaziland, or sharing His love with a woman working in the Red Light District in Thailand. I can’t do this journey on my own and as God uses fundraising to remind me that “…I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13) I am called to let you in to see me, for me and to ask for your prayers and financial support for the journey ahead. As I move forward to answer His call, I lean on you and Him to get me to where I need to be and to use my unique and beautiful self to share His love with the world.
“Here I am, Lord. Is It I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”
– Christian hymn written by Dan Schutte
