Quick update on fundraising- I’ve reached $5,000!!! Whoohoo!! The raffle basket and garage sale raised just over $1,700!!! Mind. Blown. I didn’t expect to raise so much but I’m so thankful people rallied behind it. Thank you to anyone who donated items and purchased tickets! Here’s a picture of the happy winner below.
I’ve had so many little nuggets of insight throughout the past month or so as I prepare for this big journey. God placed certain people at just the right times to lift me up in encouragement or give me a dose of wisdom my head and heart needed to hear.
It’s also been a time of change. I’ve completed phase one of moving which was packing up my classroom. I’m headed into phase two which will be packing up my Seattle home I’ve lived in for 5 years. Change can be bittersweet. I’m learning it takes massive courage to continue down a path with unknowns. If you’re following along this journey with me there are few things I want to share with you.
- God honors obedience. Taking a leap of faith can be terrifying. Obedience requires the sacrifice of our own will. It means trading comfort for an opportunity to be transformed. Ultimately it means choosing to do life with God. I’m learning each day to step back from striving and let God have margin in my life. His Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. We only get to see the reliant steps we’re taking, but God has gone before us and has lit the entire way. That gives me peace and security. As my relationship with Jesus grows I’ve noticed more opportunities to take bigger steps of faith with less assurance. I think it’s His way of deepening our faith. The World Race being the largest leap of faith in my life thus far. And those past memories of His faithfulness serve to give me the necessary push to take another leap. Obedience yields more joy and purpose even in the midst of fear because God is in it with me- transforming me. Obedience opens the door to what only God can do.
- God meets you where you’re at. My decision to go on the World Race (WR) happened because of people and experiences He led me too. Age was something I thought might hold me back from doing the WR. As I talked it through with a close friend, I learned that she knew someone exactly my age who went on the race. When we met up to chat I expressed my concern, and by the end of our time it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. Instead, I left knowing this just might be what I need to do. As a true “in my head” kind of processor, the next month I wrestled with God over the effects of choosing the WR. Both the practical and abstract- like what I am going to do with my car?! And also how it would it impact relationships, especially the opportunity to invest in my Young Life girls. Ultimately, the decision to go resulted from prayer, encounters with others like the one I shared, and through raw conversations with close friends. I’m so thankful for God’s compassion and provision.
- This trip isn’t FOR me but what can be done THROUGH me. I can’t stress enough that the money I’m raising for the World Race is because of the impact it will make in the lives of others. Yes, I pray and hope this will be an incredibly life changing experience on my end. However, my heart is in it for how my gifts and strengths can be used to allow opportunities for others to know God’s love. His love heals us and gives us a new freedom. Jesus said other people will know Christians by the way they love others. When I brought up the uncomfortable feelings I had about fundraising with a friend he said, “Eva, by you not asking, you are dismissing the opportunity for others to be a part of what God is doing.” That was convicting. So here I am asking. Will you consider being a part of this by giving financially? Because the world is in need of His love, now more than ever.
