When I signed up for the World Race, I felt like I was standing at the base of a mountain with the top goal of $18,100 far out of reach and way out of sight. The sweet little phrases like, “Where God guides, He provides” and “God’s will, God’s bill” helped alleviate the strong weight of panic I was carrying at times, but only for a moment. When I fixed my eyes on that insurmountable climb, the overwhelming anxiety got the best of me, and I felt defeated even before I took my first step. My fundraising story, however, is one of the Lord teaching me how to turn my eyes to Him again and again to just enjoy the journey with Him instead of trying to strive to meet the goal on my own. “Enjoy the journey”…how many times have I heard that phrase spoken intentionally and directly to me by mentors, friends, the Lord haha…and each time I begrudgingly rolled my eyes. I’ve always wanted to just cut to the chase, get to the point, take the straight shot and bypass the scenic route to life…
The Lord is kind, though, and so very patient. I’m so glad He knows me better than I know myself 🙂
God used my fundraising process to not only champion the strengths and passions He placed in me, but also to remind me of what I had forgotten was always there. I couldn’t believe it, but I actually started enjoying the journey! The “process” of getting to the top of the mountain of being fully funded has actually been a ton of fun and has brought me a lot of joy! Sure, there were a few times when I could feel my gaze shifting away from the Lord and back onto my insecurities and inabilities, my fears and all the what if’s. But God never failed to bring me right back to those beautiful, confident, knowing eyes of His, comforting me with the assurance that He’s still walking with me, even when I had forgotten He was holding my hand all along.
I’ve got a lot to learn about the fundraising process, and I’m pretty convinced that God doesn’t necessarily work the same way every time, even with the same individual. The next time I have to raise an insurmountable amount of money, He may use a completely different method. This time around, though, I feel like I learned a few things. My primary means of support raising did not come from writing support letters or meeting with people 1:1. Not to say that’s bad or wrong, it’s just not my style. I found so much joy in getting to partner with the Lord‘s creative nature, finding ways that I might be able to bless people in return for blessing me, and using the gift of connecting people and a heart for building community to raise much of my support. I wanted to share a few of the ways the Lord led me to raise a large portion of my funding. Yes, there was the occasional support letter, but for the most part, I’ve gotten nearly fully funded based on: word of mouth/building relationship/connecting with perfect strangers, speaking to my church and other groups that love the Lord and carry a heart for the nations, adopt a box (blessings box) where I painted a scripture associated with the verse/passage assigned to each box/number and sent it with a thank you card, Lovishly necklaces, sheep keychains (made by my wonderful mom!), other artwork I felt led to make and some items donated by friends, a “furniture flip for a mission trip” fundraiser and an open mic night type fundraiser at a local coffee shop. Overall the process has been far more enjoyable than I ever would have imagined 🙂
Advice for fundraising I’ve learned on my journey so far:
1. Let the passion for what you’re raising money for drive your excitement and the work you do – others will catch your flame and follow
2. Whatever you do, stay close to the Lord, keep in step, keep your gaze on Him and follow His lead
3. When you sense your gaze starting to wander and yourself starting to strive, just refocus and keep going
4. Don’t stop until you’ve reached the finish line, despite what your short-term goals might say. True, you need to rest along the way, just make sure it’s a power nap and you don’t fall asleep for 2 hours 😉
5. Have FUN and remember the Lord enjoys you and wants to meet you in the process
Check out a few pics from my own fundraisers under my most recently added photos in the pictures section 🙂
Thanks so much to everyone who has supported me thus far and helped me to learn so many amazing things about myself and the Lord in the adventure of support raising even before I leave on the Race! God is such a giver and He’s so very faithful!
