“Ok God, If this is what you want me to do you’re going to allow me to get accepted and then you’re going to provide all the money right? Over $16,000 is a heck of a lot of money, and I have no idea where it’s going to come from. You got this, you’ll provide, right God?”
This was my prayer as I hit the submit button on my application for the World Race. Maybe not the most spiritual of prayers, but that was what was on my heart.
Then I got accepted. Once I got my acceptance call I was half way between laughing and crying the rest of the afternoon. I couldn’t stop thanking God. It was actually happening! I was going to get to go on the World Race! I’m not sure there was a happier girl to be found anywhere.
Now I’m firmly into the fundraising part. It’s not easy. As the first deadline gets closer I’m getting a little nervous. I have no idea where all the money I need is going to come from. I’m sending out my support letters and sharing about the World Race on social media, but not much has come in yet. I’ve put it out there that I will sew things (dresses, shirts, skirts, jackets, whatever) for people who make donations. I haven’t had many takers.
“Is this really what I’m supposed to be doing, God?” I ask.
“Yes,” He says.
Every time I get discouraged he provides encouragement, through whatever passage I happen to be reading in the Bible or through the people around me.
Last week I went to the eye doctor to get my year’s supply of contacts to bring along on the Race. While sitting in the waiting room I started talking to the lady sitting next to me. It turned out she was a Christian. She had a few friends who were missionaries and had even been on a couple of mission trips herself. She told me where she had sewn pockets into her clothes so that she wouldn’t get pick-pocketed when she spent a month in China. She told me how God had healed her knee so it wouldn’t interfere with ministry on that trip. She told me which brands of instant coffee were good. (Yes, I will be bringing coffee in some form on the race.) It was a very encouraging encounter, just what God knew I needed that day.
I am doing the Race. I am very excited about it. I have spent an awful lot of time in prayer and God has made it clear that this is what I’m supposed to be doing.
I still don’t know where the money is coming from, but I know God will provide it, in his time.
Last night I read Acts 7:1-53, Stephen’s sermon before he was put to death. He told of how God showed up for his people throughout time. What struck me was that God never showed up when the people thought he should, but rather in his own time, to fulfill his plan. Verse 5 really resonated with me.
“But he gave him [Abraham] no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him.”
~Acts 7:5
Abraham had to wait years, decades even, to begin to see God’s promise to him. Having a son with Sarah seemed more impossible to him than raising $16,000 seems to me. God fulfilled his promise to Abraham.
Abraham tried to take things into his own hand though by having a son with Hagar, but that wasn’t God’s plan for him. Having a son with Hagar didn’t turn out too well for him.
Likewise, I have been tempted to put all my savings into my World Race account to meet my first deadline. If I do that, however, I won’t have the money I need for all my gear. Thus, unless I am certain that that is what God wants me to do, I know I shouldn’t take things into my own hands that way.
I have been seeking God throughout my preparations for the World Race and I know, without a doubt, that this is what I am supposed to be doing. I trust that God will provide the money, even with the deadlines looming. God knows what I need, he will provide.
