December 16th, 2017. That’s the day I said yes. Yes to abandonment. Yes to change. Yes to the Lord’s plan over mine. And although I didn’t fully know it that day, I was also saying yes to the World Race.
I was also saying yes to fundraising! Or FUNdraising as we call it (cheesy missionary jokes). That said, at the time I wish I wasn’t saying yes to that. At first I hated the idea of fundraising my trip. For one thing, it was a daunting amount for a 19 year-old college kid. $15,800…. That’s about $15,783 more than what I had at the time. So it was scary. But what was worse was the idea of having to ask.
My entire life up to this point I’ve hated asking for anything. Be it asking for a pen, or for help on homework. And especially money. I remember in high school I would never even let my Young Life leader buy me coffee (sorry John). This hatred of asking for help kept me from fundraising for a whole two months after being accepted to the race. I kept making excuses that I was busy with school or other things, but the reality of it was that I was too proud to start asking. In the end, I did find humility and slid my first batch of support letters into the mail box (I wrote a blog about this a long time ago). I remember when I started this process of inviting other into my journey and asking them for help, I set out with a goal in mind: I didn’t want to put my own money in this if I didn’t absolutely have to.
I knew that the Lord would provide for me, and I was hungry to see that. I remember when I went to my friend that did this trip and told her for the first time that I was considering applying she told me not to let the money scare me. She said, “If you needed $10,000 by tomorrow, God would get you $10,000 by tomorrow.” That stuck with me. Time after time, people would ask me if I was worried about fundraising. Once I actually started working on it, that’s what I told them. The Lord took my fear from me, and helped me to trust that He would provide.
And He did.
My friends and family….
I AM FULLY FUNDED.
I love to look back on the journey of this past year and see how everything has changed, and especially how God has carried me since I let His plan be first. He is the only one able to claim glory in this. Yes, I made shirts to sell. Yes, I sent out dozens and dozens of letters. Yes, I organized a garage sale. But HE moved peoples’ hearts to donate. HE told people to come to the garage sale. HE got me out here. He is the only one to blame for this, and the only one worthy of receiving glory in this.
So thank you, my God. You are the ultimate caretaker.
And this all means that in less than a week, I’ll be in Africa! Talk to y’all when I hit the ground there!
I’d also like to thank my mom. Because I wanted to cry while organizing that garage sale, and I think she did too at some points. But she held my hand the whole time and the Lord really shined through her in that awful, stressful week. Much love, Mama.
p.s. Currently it says I’m still a little short of the final mark, but money is still processing. It’ll be there soon.
