As some of you may or may not know, the first fundraising deadline has come and gone. That deadline was $5,000 due June 18th.
I am sad to say I did not make that deadline.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
Because there is such a thing as grace and Adventures in Missions has it in abundance, I got an extension on my deadline. June 18th became July 2nd, and I had three weeks to make that remaining $2,000. While I was grateful for the extension, I was doubtful I could raise even that much in less than three weeks. I mean, I barely raised $3,000 in three months. Needless to say I was extremely stressed over this. But my focus was not where it should be, and I’ll tell you about my wake up call.
So that first week after my extension I had volunteered for a youth camp, called YAC, or Youth Adventure Camp. I have gone to YAC as a camper for seven years. I have seen so many amazing things at this camp, God always shows up and shows out there. This year was my first year as a cabin leader. Even though I knew I was being called to be at this camp, I felt as though I shouldn’t go. I am just as called to be on this Mission trip as I was called to be at that camp. But I felt as though the Missions were more important, I should be home fundraising, working to save money, anything to work towards that seemingly impossible goal.
But they didn’t have enough female staff, and if I backed out, they would have been hard pressed to find a replacement. So I went, but during the first half of the week, it was like I was split in two. I wasn’t fully focused, pulled between two places.
About the middle of the week, the evening service was on the fear of the unknown and losing control. It wrecked me, because it hit home. If I didn’t raise enough money, I wouldn’t go. I didn’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t go. Don’t get me wrong, the idea of actually going scares me plenty, but the idea of failing, of missing an amazing opportunity, scared me more.
At the end of the service and during the worship, I had completely broke down crying and had to step away from all the people. I stayed at the edge of the crowd, just watching everyone, quietly crying to myself. I was hoping I could regain my composure before anyone noticed me, I hate crying in front of people. But one of the cabin leaders on my team saw me and came over. One of the things he said to me really stuck.
He told me that I needed to focus where my feet are. I needed to focus on where I’m at, God called me to camp, he’ll provide for the missions. These youth are just as important, they deserve my full attention. I knew he was right. So the rest of the week I focused on where my feet were, and trusted that God would provide the rest. In that week I was gone, a total of $1,000 of donations came in, in one week alone. God is so good, all the time. Thank you all for your support, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!
