Well, I never actually said it was impossible, but there sure were times that it crossed my mind. Upon hearing that I had to raise $15,500 for the trip plus about $500 for a tent, sleeping bag, internal frame backpack, and plane tickets to and from the launch site, I took a big gulp and realized I was about to have a lot of responsibilty on my shoulders alone. Senior year of college with medical school applications to fill out, Student Government meetings, Miss Emmanuel speaches to give, a small group Bible study to lead, and projects to help fellow college kids raise money for their mission trips, and more….how in the world will there be any time to raise money for my own trip? Unemplyed and no one to help me raise all that money. I didn’t even know anybody rich. Not to mention that fundraising has to be one of my least favorite things to do in this world! Asking friends and family for money-heck, asking people you don’t even know for money…it’s terrible. It takes hours upon hours of prayer and hard work. I believe I spent my entire Christmas break sending out support letters and planning fundraising projects. Every extra penny I received from anything including graduation and birthday money was another penny towards my trip. And Saturdays were perfect days for yard sales because sadly I couldn’t cram all forty pairs of my shoes into my backpack to take with me. Facebook was blown up with statuses saying “Support me, support me!” I was obnoxious, really. Haha. But, all I knew was that if I didn’t give 100% then I couldn’t rightfully expect God to bring in the money. Here’s a little recap of my senior year that was very vibrant with fundraising! 😉
t-shirt sales
Chick-fil-A Fundraiser
Newspaper Headlines
Raising $ for other students
Mosquito nets for Africa
Just a little senior stress, that’s all. She’ll be fine after finals.
Yardsale fun. 🙂
At the Global Missions Health Conference in Kentucky
Time for some fun at formal!
Graduation Day.
Trust me, I know how it works. God speaks. I listen. I give 100%. God is faithful. I bless others. I am blessed in return. Here’s a testimony of God’s goodness and faithfulness in my life. In just four years, God gave me (Yes, he GAVE me.)……
$104,000……
(104!)……(THOUSAND!)……(DOLLARS!)…… He just gave it to me. I don’t know why. I don’t deserve it. Just free money that He entrusted me to use for His Kingdom. $80,000 of scholarshiped hand-written checks for me to get a Pre-Medicine and Christian Ministries degree at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Ga.-a college that I choose because it had a tremendous passion for world missions. $8,000 for EC missions trips to Romania in 2007, Kenya and Uganda in 2008, Bolivia in 2009, and $16,000 for 11 countries in 11 months (The World Race, of course.). One-hundred and four thousand dollars. Freely given to me. And to think that “impossible” even crossed my mind. Shame on me. Have I not learned anything at all? My human mind tends to put limitations on God sometimes, like putting God in a box. Have you ever done this? Thoughts such as “God could never use me”. Or “no one will give money to send me to the nations.” Such box-like thinking. God wants to use you in amazing ways! He will send in money left and right from people you don’t even know! $16,000 is couch change to Him. My God writes the big checks.
So, here I am one year after getting accepted into the World Race and starting month five in Romania as a FULLY FUNDED racer. God is doing big things in my life too. I look back to a year ago and I barely recognize that girl. I feel like I’ve grown up four years in just the past four months of being on the World Race. It’s a long and hard journey, but it’s rich with life. As long as I have lived, though my twenty-two and half years may not be much to brag about, I have worked hard for God. It’s not because I feel like I have to in order to go to heaven (like people of many other religions are imprisoned by). No, it’s because I just love God. Plain and simple. I love living for Him. It’s awesome. Living in the presence of God is actually the only place where I find contentment and joy. I don’t just want to be fully funded in terms of money. I want to be fully funded in terms of life! I want every spiritual gift that the Holy Spirit has to offer me. I want every year of my life to be fully funded with moments of worship to Jesus Christ, son of the living God. I want to be used to bring heaven to this broken world. I want every soul on this planet to receive the fullness of life that can only be found in the presence of God. And I want my heart, soul, and mind to stop putting God in a box-to dare to dream so big that numbers with three zeroes behind the comma don’t phase me because my God thrives in “my impossible.”
Matthew 17:20 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
THANK YOU SUPPORTERS: Liberty Baptist Church and Cates Family, Battle Branch Baptist Church, LifeSprings Church, Rocky Grove Baptist Church, Linda Craine, Bill Hinson and Jim Ricks, Jarod and Angie Radford (t-shirt sales), Meredith and Marti MacMillan and Anne MacMillan, Nathan and Mary Dunham, Anthony Martinez, Wesley and Teressa Harris, Chelsie Maynard, Harley and Jean Keener, Rabun Builders Inc. (Kurt and Malinda Cannon) fundraiser help, Cookie and Von Free, Joe and Diane Phillips, Casey Ricks (tent and sleeping bag), George and Ruby Ridley (plane tickets), Jim and Tori Carver, Kevin and Lorrie Gregoire, Barabara Cantrell, Kay Cantrell, Jamie Crowder, Jeremy Davis, Brittany Maxwell, Karan Pasko, Haleigh Lewis, Brian Peek, Browyn Randel, Shannon Fountain, Leigh Ann Elliot, Julia Steigleder, Jan Stewart, Yvonne Ring, Jerry Silvio, Linda James, Amanda Oglesby, Jennifer Kitchen, Kristen McCollum, Phillip Cortese and family, Rick and Lori and Stephanie Briggs, Jerry and Kelly and Racheal Sanders, Sibyl Hamrick, Dwight Lloyd, Courtney Blythe, Brent Hemphill, Matthew Tavares, Julie Harrup, Kim Holcomb, Doris Lankford, Jeff and Ginnie Grantham, Dorothy Gardener, Chuck and Gigi Moore, Angie Addington, Sherrie Stockton, Betty Deal, Jessica Hewett, Kirby Butler, Rebecca Woodroffe, Diane Brown, Sharon Hickox, Bruce and Donna Pendry, Larry and Judy McClanahan, Bud and Jan McClanahan, Reba Johnson, Dorothy Crumley, Al and Janet Smith, Davenport Family and David and Lauren Scott (Scott Building Systems), Janet Parker, Virginia Jones, Ed and Marion Polley, Donald Ricks, Douglas Ricks, Bill and Selah Hubbard, Steve Harvey (Franklin Fence), Marrabeth Benton, Martin and Margarie Truax, Sara Boyd, Lauren Korte, Janice Sanford, Meredith Elise Byrd, and all those who bought my t-shirts, came to my yardsales and fundraiser events….you know who you are! THANK YOU! MAY GOD BLESS YOU!
