We’ve all heard stories about miraculous things happening at the last minute. I’ve seen it happen with funds coming in for other racers, healing happening for friends sick in the hospital, and on and on. We’ve all heard the stories, and they all have something in common. At some point, the person who needed the money, or the healing, or the good news realized that they needed something bigger than they could control.
Flash back to two weeks ago, September 19th. It’s just days before my first deadline for the World Race, and I’m not where I need to be. I’m still about $1,500 short and the fears that have been in the back of my mind are becoming harder to dismiss. I had my yard sale fundraiser planned for that weekend, and prayed hard that I had done enough to get at least $1,000 from that. The day came and went, and I made $700 from the sale. I started to crunch numbers and see what I could do to get to the bare minimum before my deadline, but it just didn’t seem like it was going to happen.
Sitting at work on the day before my deadline, I was acutely aware of how little control I had over the situation. There was no amount of work I could do in that day to make up roughly $500 to get me *just* at the minimum. At this point I was wondering if this wasn’t my season. I thought of the people that had received that “miracle” funding, but in my own head, it wasn’t for me. That stuff happened to other people, those stories were for strangers or acquaintances to post on Facebook and get thousands of shares to encourage others. Surely it wasn’t a story I would be able to tell.
I decided to do one more check on my current funds. I pulled out my phone and brought up my blog site. I was caught off guard when my donation percentage meter was almost halfway filled. That didn’t make any sense, I knew that I only had about $3,400 in my account at that point. I’m no math major, but I know that $3,400 is nowhere near half of $18,000. I refreshed the page, but the meter remained where it was. That’s when my heart started pounding very fast. I quickly clicked on the donation breakdown, still repeating in my head that this was a mistake, there was no way that was correct.
At this point my heart went from racing to dead still. There, at the top of my support breakdown, was an anonymous donation for $5,000.
I refreshed the page- still there.
Refreshed again- still there.
One more time- yep. Still there.
At that point my heart had started beating again, and I straight up screamed… gave a few of my coworkers heart attacks but that’s okay.
All I could think in that moment was how it felt to be in the part of the story where the miracle happens. Not only did I surpass my deadline, but I am now at the point I need to be in order to launch in January. When people ask me when I am leaving, I can say January and not secretly wonder if that was going to be true based on funding. I still have about $8,000 left to raise, but my launching deadline is already fulfilled!
Y’all, hearing stories of God coming through for people, and being in the middle of that story yourself feels very different. Because doesn’t it always seem like He pulls through for everyone else? I know for me it’s a lot easier to believe that God will come through for my friends or family than it is to believe He will come through for me. In that moment, I felt Him say to me “I am for you. As much as you believe I am for everyone else, I am for you.” Can I tell you how humbled I felt just then? I talked big talk about my confidence in His provision, but more times than I’d like to admit, I let the fears knock out my faith.
Even so, He is for me. And I hope if you’re in the middle of waiting for that miracle, you can say and believe He is for you.
*I still don’t know who blessed me with this $5,000. But if they find and read this, I just want you to know how much you have strengthened my faith. I am so grateful that you allowed God to use you to be such a huge blessing for me. Thank you so much*
