Hello everyone!
These past few weeks since I committed to the World Race have been so wonderful! It’s crazy that it’s already been so long, and it’s crazy that each day I get closer and closer to launch!
This post is all about fundraising. One reason why I decided to go on a World Race trip and not another trip is because this organization is so committed to growth and discipleship, both for the people they serve and for the missionaries they send. I’ll learn a ton more about this the closer I get, but right now, I’m learning about fundraising. The World Race emphasizes fundraising as partnering with your community. We’re all called to serve. We’re not all called to foreign missions, but fundraising allows a community to send those who are to go out and share the Gospel with all nations as an ambassador for Christ. How beautiful is that?
But this really hit me the other day. I started fundraising by selling homemade crafts that I’ve been stockpiling since I first started praying about going on the World Race. I love to knit and try out all sorts of craft projects, and it’s so much fun when I see people wearing my scrunchies at school or when my friends have my little knitted keychains on their keys! It’s wonderful connecting with people and talking about my trip for just a few short minutes over Instagram direct messages– there is just no way I can say thank you enough!
The other day, though, I logged into my blog and saw that my little donations bar at the top of the page had gone up. I went into the donations portal and saw a $200 donation from someone listed as “anonymous.”
I couldn’t believe it. $200, and there wasn’t even an email address to thank them! (So if you’re reading this, wow!! Thank you!) I don’t even know if I know them at all!
A $200 donation from a stranger. That’s when I realized– this is not about me. And that sounds really self-centered, and it’s not meant to be. But when I started this, I imagined all of my friends from school chipping in a few dollars, right? If around 200 people donated $5 a month, I’d hit my goal in June, and that’s kind of what I anticipated– some friends pitching in to support me. But here’s a complete stranger sending money to my trip to support not me, but my mission. And that’s even more powerful.
Here are people who believe that what I’m doing really will make a difference. Here are people who believe that God will equip me to do His work, even though I may not be prepared! Here are people who have never met me, who have no idea what I am and am not capable of, but who believe so strongly in the Father’s ability to use those who follow Him that they expect that I can share His light in Thailand.
Because He doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called.
And how incredible it is to know that He’s preparing me for this even now. That I’m learning and growing and getting ready, even now. That other people see that, too, and are generous enough to support what I’m doing.
There’s a gratitude in my heart that can’t be expressed. I’ve learned the word for thank you in five different languages, but that’s not enough. The only thing I can compare this to is a feeling I get in church when I stop to think about how beautiful it is that Christ gave his life for us, and that his sacrifice has no conditions or expectations. When I was little, I thought that the money collected in the baskets at church was to literally pay Jesus back, but no– He freely gave it all for us. And trying to comprehend that love and mercy is overwhelming. I did nothing to earn that. I can do nothing to repay that. And accepting that grace is both challenging and beautiful.
I think fundraising teaches us that in a different way. I did nothing to earn the money I fundraise, just like I did nothing to earn Christ’s love. But I think by receiving donations we learn to receive Christ’s love, and by receiving love, we learn to give it, too.
There’s a flip side to that– by giving what we have, we can align with Christ’s sacrifice. We receive so we can give. We have only two hands; we can only hold so much, and maybe that is so we can share. Maybe that’s so we learn to rely on God and on each other.
That’s what I’m learning right now. I’m relying on my community, on the people reading my blog, on total strangers who want to make a difference. I’m relying on God to provide, and I know that He will. It’s difficult for me– I’m very much the kind of person who works to make things happen– but I’m trusting God and His timing. I knew when I applied to the World Race that it would take more faith than anything I’ve ever done, and the more I learn, the more I know that’s true. I’m so blessed to be learning this now and to know that God is preparing me for something huge!
