For the past few weeks, I’ve been feeling increasingly stressed out about fundraising. I felt like I was getting nowhere, and everything I was trying to do wasn’t helping! I had so many fundraising ideas at the beginning, what was going on? Why was it so difficult and stressful, and why was I getting nowhere?!
Then, on Tuesday morning, it hit me. I kicked God out of my fundraising. Whoops! That is why I was getting nowhere – I tried doing it on my own! And clearly, it didn’t work. I didn’t mean to remove God from the equation, but for whatever reason, I decided I could do it on my own. Once I took this fundraising weight into my own hands, I became increasingly stressed and worried as to why I wasn’t making any progress. I was like a video game character running into a wall – I just kept hitting it face first, over and over again, hoping that eventually I will break through and make progress. But then on Tuesday, God whispered to me that I could just give this blessing-turned-burden back to Him and walk around the wall. He is glad to take it back, but I just wasn’t letting Him.
I prayed about this for a while and actually wrote out an apology to Jesus. He reassured me that He is happy to take this back from me. Fundraising for World Race is not a chore for God – in fact, He enjoys it! He loves showing me His provision! And after this enlightenment, I was actually excited to begin fundraising again!
On Tuesday afternoon, after writing an apology letter to Jesus and asking Him to come back into this, I came up with two brand new fundraising ideas. And the very next day, I began yet another idea that has done incredibly well.
In the three weeks that I accidentally kicked God out of fundraising, I stressfully raised $80. In the three days that I’ve invited Him back in, I have raised over $800 stress-free. I think it’s pretty obvious which method is best.
My current fundraiser consists of the number 18 and a whole lot of balloons. 100 balloons to be exact, all equaling $18. Buy a balloon and donate $18 – once all 100 balloons are sold, I will be $1,800 closer to my overall goal! I am trying to reach this goal by my 18th birthday next week, so don’t wait to donate!
