God is always faithful, always. Sometimes it is hard to see how God is working in your life or it is hard to see how God is going to come through. If you are anything like me you start thinking and it’s game over; you begin painting these far-fetched ideas in your had while praying for God to show up. Yet, time and time again He shows up and astonishes me with His love and faithfulness.
I had my first financial deadline of $5,000 on May 15th. On May 10th I had $150 raised and it was what I had donated myself. I really struggled during the days building up to the deadline. There were so many voices and doubts that I allowed to fill my head. I was convincing myself that this wasn’t something that I was supposed to do because I sent out support letters about two weeks prior and there was no feedback. If anything, people doubted it all just as much as I was. I am ashamed of myself because looking back now, I did not believe in the power of Jesus. I doubted what He could do. I mean shall we talk about what all our God has done for us?
By May 19th I had over $5,000 raised. WHAT? How crazy is that? How amazing it is to have a God who shows up no matter how much you doubt Him. No matter how much you believe the voices in your head. God showed up BIG TIME. He definitely provided me with the confirmation I needed to truly believe the world race is where I am supposed to be headed.
Fundraising has not been an easy journey for me. I am generally a “do it yourself” kind of gal. I’m a tomboy at heart, who is not afraid to look like a fool getting things done. Fundraising and/or Jesus does not understand that mindset. His plans for me don’t only include me. Living life as a Jesus follower is a continual process of dying to self. Sometimes it is a really beautiful thing and sometimes it is just straight ugly. The fundraising process has shown me a lot of things that I need to work on as a person (ask me about them, I would love to talk about them but for the sake of exhausting this blog post I will talk about one). My biggest one is: asking people for help. To me, asking people for help is basically throwing in the white flag and realizing the task at hand is too big for just you. It’s like you are doubting the strength and gifts God has given you. Or you are not methodical enough with you resources. I don’t mind receiving help whatsoever; it’s just when I have to ask for it where I get stumped.
In reality, though, being able to ask people for help is an amazing gift we have. People are so generous, so caring and genuinely so helpful. I have been astonished by the generosity, love and encouragement that I have received over the past few months simply by telling people why I feel called to the race. Family, friends, and even new friends you meet while working at REI want to help you in any way they can if you simply ask.
If you allow the opportunity for God to show up through your doubts, your abstract painted pictures, or a customer at REI He will. Just simply ask.
Please continue to pray for me as I am still in the fundraising process. If you would like to donate I would greatly, greatly appreciate it. You can donate online by visiting my blog page, kelleykruse.theworldrace.org. A little amount will go a long way!
Thank you for reading! And THANK YOU to all my prayer warriors and supporters. It wouldn’t be possible without y’all!
xo
Kelley Kruse
~to the ends of the earth~
