As the day is drawing near to leave for the World Race, I am in awe of how the Lord has worked to bring me to this point. I can truly say that He had a plan to bring this all together for this time and this mission trip. He would not let me give it up when there were many times I had doubts. . . but when God says, God says! . . . and He does!
I am now able to put into words just some of this amazing journey of how God funded this mission with so many beautiful supporters of finance, prayers, and love! For all of you that have encouraged me in many different methods of loving support whether it be action, words, prayer, gifts of money, hugs, etc., I pray that you know that God used you in nothing short of a miracle to bring me to 90% of my funding in under 3 months and I am blessed to have you in my life! The story goes as follows:
Back in June, with life as it sometimes goes, I had not been able to get out my fundraising letters or do anything else really so I was feeling stressed. Around this same time, the Lord showed me the number 5,000 and I knew that he was refering to money and like an unbelieving stubborn child, I questioned the Lord "What are you talking about, like someone is really going to give me $5,000?" and of course He just said "Yes" like duh Linsey, I am God. So anyway, I was still doubtful and put it in the back of my mind unsure of what the Lords voice even looked like or sounded like at this point and I just chalked it up to wishful thinking.
In early July, I got a donation of $500 from an old friend that I hadn't talk to in forever which was a super amazing gift in itself and there I go thinking well the Lord must have meant $500 as if He would get the zeros wrong. . . seriously. . . silly human! Well no, God kept showing the number 5,000 and I still don't give in. . . I am stubborn and independent-minded as ever yet our loving, gracious God still wants to bless me and show me how powerful He is and how intimately He designs for His children.
Graciously, God used my wonderful family's donations to bring me to the deadline of $3500 to go to World Race training camp in July. Even with God's gracious, beautiful provision up to this point, I was still worried about what I needed to do to raise the money in the near future. To make this a little shorter, let me just say that at training camp God gave me confirmation of His voice in beautiful ways and after this He showed me the number 5,000 again and asked me to give it all up to Him. All, not just half this time. (Background: At the beginning of June, with only the little bit of fundraising that I had been able to do, I was strongly considering changing to a January route for more time but God would not let me get leaving in September off my heart. God was showing me that He intended me for this time and this trip and He was going to bring it all together. . . sooooo I halfway gave in saying I will stick with September and trust Him with that decision but I still wasn’t fully giving over my funding to Him.)
So I finally gave up the control and when I did, there was a peace in it that I had not felt before. Even after training camp when I checked my fund account, the 5,000 wasn’t there but the peace was still there. The Lord is the great promise keeper and He was about to show out! My mamaw told me that her church wanted me to come back the following Sunday (I had shared with them several weeks before) and she kept being real secretive about it but kept saying it was going to be a “special day”. I was trying not to have expectations but I knew it would be a special day just because I was returning to my childhood church that loved me and was encouraging to me. This church is a small church and I knew that they had been gathering a couple hundred dollars for me and was blown away by their love in that already so I was going into this with an expectation just to cherish their love in the many ways they beautifully give it.
The Saturday before the coming Sunday invite, I had a big yard sale fundraiser that brought in over a thousand dollars which brought me to the $6500 deadline to go in September. At this point, I was just humbled to no end at the fact that I would be leaving in September as God had led and the Spirit just kept doling out peace beyond my understanding so I was already blown away. Well, as you might have started to suspect, I went to my small childhood church the next day. . . the pastor called me up front to share some about training camp and then they wanted to present their gift to me. . . and you guessed it. . . the $5,000. Can I just say that one more time. . . THE 5,000. . . Let me just shout it to the rooftops. . . God’s 5,000!!! Let's just pause and soak that in. Thinking about it still makes me tremble, not because it is a big amount of money but because God tells us promises that we think are impossible and He just makes them happen whether we believe or not.
Since that Sunday on August 4th, God has used many other beautiful gifts (wonderful each in their own way) to provide over $2,000 more! Now that I have finally been able to express all that, I just want to close with the fact that God wants to blow you away with the powerful works of His hands in ways that seem impossible ($14,000 in 3 months!). He has a design that is mysterious and difficult to understand at times but it is so intricately stitched with loving care and He will reveal it to you when you least expect it so hold out for the Lord. He wants to show you more of who He is and what you mean to Him. I pray this for all of you!
