They happen. They are definitely real.
I know I don’t have to say this to most of you, because if you have ever had to raise money, you know the majority of two things. 1-it is incredibly humbling. 2-you have seen the ways of the Lords bank account.
I promised an amazing story, I’m sorry I’m just getting around to writing it, but here it goes.
Ethiopia-
Whilst in Ethiopia, we had our final deadline. I needed about $3000 dollars before I met my final deadline. (aside from this story, I had an anonymous donor give $1000 dollars this month…crazy) So I still needed $2000 in one month. I had already raised money in the 5th figures which is mind blowing in itself, but $2000 in just around 20 days is still terrifying. To add to the worry factor, when we landed in Ethiopia, we started driving to our ministry site, we left the city (Addis Ababa) then kept driving, left the surrounding villages, then kept driving, left the telephone poles, kept driving, left paved roads, kept driving, until about three hours into the country we reached our site. It was gorgeous. Secluded, surrounded by fresh nature, mountains, rolling planes, ancient ways of life. Beautiful. But no civilization really, no wifi, which I am all for. But when your source and support of communication, and funding supporter, are two hours (minimum) away from any internet, with no taxi’s or buses nearby, it makes you a little anxious about how you are even able to communicate to people that you need money. The factor of worry whether people would donate or not was minimal, now the worry was that we wouldn’t be able to communicate with people that were willing to donate, that they needed to. Fear was creeping in.
I’m not trying to rant, I hope its not coming off that way, because not having internet that month was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had on the race. But to add to the internet scarcity, when we did hire a bus to take us hours into a town for internet, the sole purpose was to do Logistics for my squad, not do any support raising, so the few times I did get internet, I didn’t have time to deeply invest in asking or making fundraising plans, I was scheduling how to get our squad to the next country. So I was feeling the pressure. Honestly I wasn’t terribly worried, I knew that God had made promises and would provide, I had all faith in that. But one day, God spoke to me that I had been falling on faith, and not been desiring to ASK God. I was so sure that God would provide that I wasn’t bothering to even ask him to provide. So I felt convicted. Our squad set up a 24 hour prayer and fast that we would break together at dinner at the end of that day, to pray specifically for funding as a squad. I felt deeply that God wanted me to extend this time with him, so I did a 72 hour fast, two days prior than the squad, and finishing the last day with the squad. It was the first time I had ever done a fast this long from all food, no juice, nothing. It was hard, but It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.
On the last day, In my allotted prayer time, in our little prayer closet we set up, I was of course praying for my own funding, but also for the squads funding, and individuals who still needed great amounts of money. And God Spoke to me. He said “You will be rewarded for your fasting.” This was the first time God had spoken directly to me in 1st person. I wrote it down, thinking so selfishly, “awesome, I feel at peace about this fast, I have been answered, I can break my fast now, I can trust God in this promise.” You’ll see why it was selfish thinking soon.
Later that night we broke our fast together, as a Squad-(minus one team who was doing unsung in the city L) and almost literally after we had finished our meal together, we got a call from our squad mentor Jeremy, about how we have had an anonymous donor call and want to donate a “significant” amount to the entire L squad! WHAT!! We started freaking out, obviously! It was amazing, that we literally had nothing to rely on, but God, we had no internet, no phones, no way of communicating that we needed money, yet all we had to do way come before God in petition, and he provided. I was so selfish to think that the word about reward was just for me. God had not only provided for just individuals on our Squad, he said all of us would be rewarded for our fasting, and he provided for our squad as a whole, not just one amount of money, God thinks so much bigger that we ever could. It was an incredible testimony. They ended up extending our deadline also, because we were so isolated, so we were provided even extra time.. Gosh it was awesome.
So part two. I had kinda started forgetting about the remanded I needed. Even with the donated amount for the squad, they divided it based on circumstance, and funding status of those in most need. With everything I still needed about $950. The moment I even began to think about it, literally as I was about to click the mouse to post a status about my amount on facebook, I got a message. My dear, awesome friend, messaged me and straight up asked, do you still need money? It was amazing, I replied actually I need just about this much left, and she said that God had placed me on her mind that morning and she had decided to donate her monthly tithe to ME for that month. WHAT?!?! She had the exact amounts she was going to donate that month for her tithe based on her income that month, and it just so happened to be about $900 dollars… I was dumbfounded. The ways God provided is seriously crazy. I was in tears, and just so incredibly thankful.
It seems like such an impossible task to ask friends and family, and strangers, to give you $16,000 + dollars with nothing in return that you can give them. But it is so possible, and it teaches you so much about God’s promise and miracles. So don’t fear support raising, be confident in God, but don’t forget to sit at his feet and humbly ask. God is so Great guys. Seriously.
