The other day I decided to watch the Santa Clause movie. It being Christmas and all, it seemed like a logical choice.
On Christmas Eve, Santa falls off of Scott Calvin’s roof, and next thing you know, he and his son, Charlie, are flying in the sleigh, delivering presents to the children of the world. Instead of taking them home, the reindeer fly them to the North Pole. As Scott ponders the validity of all that has happened to him, the elf Judy tells him, “Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing.” This quickly becomes the theme for the rest of the movie. Charlie believes that his dad is Santa Clause and the North Pole does exist, despite his mom and stepdad insisting that they don’t.
It’s interesting because our relationship with God is similar. We don’t first physically see God and then believe that He exists. Instead, we must first come to Him in faith and believe that He is there and He does love us. Once we take this first step of faith, once we believe in Him, then we see Him, in all His glory, around us every day.
One of the ways that I have seen God in this past year is through fundraising. Last March I officially began my World Race journey, and one of the first things I had to confront was how to raise $16,961. That is a lot! But I distinctly remember a phone conversation with my mobilizer, Katelyn. She told me that some racers are blessed with two or three large donations, and other racers reach their goals dollar by dollar. Some how I knew that I would be the dollar by dollar fundraiser, but I was ok with that. I saw it as an opportunity to see God work, because no matter what I did, it was ultimately God who would bring in the funds.
So I began my journey. With the help of my friends and students in Emmonak, I was able to have several bake sales- most everything we sold was priced at $1 🙂
The day before I left Emmonak, I was in tears. I was still about $1500 short of my first deadline, which was in one week. I began to second guess everything. Maybe I had mis-heard God? Maybe I wasn’t supposed to leave Emmonak? Maybe this was all wrong? What on earth was I doing? When I calmed down a bit, I checked online and saw that I was only $99 away from my first deadline- God validated for me right then and there that I was indeed on the right tack.
I could have easily donated the $99 myself and put myself at ease. My sister was getting married that week, so why have the added stress? But I felt that God was telling me to wait, to trust in Him- even with the small things. And so I did. The day before my sister’s wedding I found out that not only had God supplied $99, but he provided several hundred dollars over my first goal! I saw the glory of God in this.
Throughout the summer, I continued to fundraise. I sold t-shirts, my parents helped me run a concessions stand at a horse show, a church friend let me work at his fireworks tent, my church family donated things so I could have a yard sale, I continued to raise funds- dollar by dollar.
As I approached my second deadline, I was about $100 short of my next goal. Once again I had a choice to put the money in myself or trust God to take care of it. I chose to trust Him. The night before the deadline I was with my mom in St. Louis. I got online to check, and found that thanks to the generosity of a friend and a stranger, not only had I me the deadline, but it had been exceeded by several hundred dollars! Once again I saw the glory of God.
Now comes the tough part. Because I was launching in August, their was no more time to do bake sales, yard sales, or any other kind of sale for that matter. Now comes the time that I needed to fully trust and rely on God, to believe He would bring in the funds for me.
I was in Swaziland as my third deadline approached. We didn’t have very good internet access that month, so I couldn’t really check to see where I was at or use Facebook a whole lot to ask for help. A week before my deadline our squad mentor, Theresa, came to me and said, “Kate, you’re about $1,000 short, do you know what you’re going to do?” My response was, “pray a lot!” Now I know this may sound snarky, but I was dead serious. At this point God was the only person who could raise these funds.
Now I wish I could say that during this week, I had complete faith. I wish I could say that I never doubted, but I won’t lie to you- I was worried. I did doubt. The deadline was on a Friday, I didn’t have the opportunity to get online and check to see where I was at. On Saturday a team mate and I had the opportunity to go to Pongola, South Africa. We found a coffee shop with wifi and promptly got a cup of coffee and got online. As I waited for my fundraising page to load, I prayed, “Lord, please let me have reached my next goal.’ The page pulled up, and I let out a yell of excitement! Not only had God met my deadline, but He had exceeded it by several hundred dollars. Again, I saw God’s glory!
All that was left now was my final deadline. I needed to be fully funded by November 30th. While many people were extremely generous, I did not meet this deadline.
I look at it as an opportunity for God to continue to build my faith in Him. My squad leadership team was gracious enough to give me one more month to raise the funds. I now have until December 31st to be fully funded.
My initial plan was to post on social media regularly about my deed for more funds. But then a still small voice said ‘no.’ But God why? How else will people know about my need? He responded with ‘trust me.’ And so that’s what I’ve chosen to do. Trust Him. Trust Him that He will provide the last $1,841 needed to be fully funded.
As I watched the Santa Clause movie, Judy’s line, ‘Seeing isn’t believing. Believing is seeing,’ really stuck out to me. I didn’t see $16,961 get raised and then believe that God did it. This has been a journey of me believing that God can raise the money, and seeing Him through that.
I encourage you all to bring your needs before God. Trust that He will take care of you, and I guarantee that you will see Him.
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.
-1 Peter 1:8
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!
Love Kate
