I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
Psalm 145: 1-7
This is a Psalm I have been memorizing and meditating on recently. In the busyness of daily life, I don’t always remember to stop and take the time to praise God in all things, or to remember what He has done for me. Last week held my first financial deadline for fundraising, and as this Psalm says, I want to meditate on the Lord’s wonderful works and proclaim His great deeds.
When I first told the Lord I would walk through open doors and pursue the World Race in January, the amount of money I would need to raise didn’t faze me. The route I was looking at going on was a year away at the time and I fully believed God could raise that amount of money in a year if He wanted me on the race.
Fast forward and I didn’t officially commit to going until July, “losing” six months of time to try and raise support. “Okay,” I thought, “this is maybe still do-able.” But I spent that entire month working on some other things that I felt God calling me to do and didn’t really get started raising funds until August, with my first deadline looming just 6 weeks away. How in the world was I going to raise $5000 in 6 weeks? It seemed too incredible a feat to even attempt.
I felt defeated before even sitting down to start the process. But slowly the Lord repositioned my focus and I remembered that nothing, not a single thing, is too hard for Him. If He had called me to this trip as I was sure He had, He was also planning to provide for all my needs, including meeting financial goals and deadlines. It was ultimately His work to accomplish anyway, and I needed to entrust it all to Him.
Over the course of the last eight weeks, God not only provided the funds necessary to reach the first deadline, but went above and beyond and I am already 38% fully funded! Praise the Lord! A HUGE thank you goes out to each one of you who has contributed to my trip and joined me in this ministry by your prayers and financial support. I could not have gotten to this place without you.
As I look back now, I see how the timeline of it all was exactly God’s plan. He allowed enough time to pass to get me to a point where I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. He wanted to teach me to trust Him in every area of the race, and He wanted to display His greatness, goodness, and power to me. I’m so grateful for how He has led me and provided for me along this journey and am excited to see how He continues to do so in the future.
Here’s a quick look at the rest of my deadlines:
- $5,000 – Due 9/23/2016 met 9/21/2016 with $5,751!!
- $10,000 – Due 12/16/2016
- $13,000 – Due 2/28/2017
- $16,617 – Due 4/30/2017
It is my desire to be fully funded in January when I leave so that I am free to completely focus on the ministry. If you would like to donate you can easily click here or on the “donate” button on my main page for online contributions. Or if you’d like to send a check, please make it out to “Adventures in Missions” with my name “Rachel Wenger” on the memo line and send to P.O. Box 742570 Atlanta, GA 30374-2570. All gifts directed here are tax-deductible. These finances will be used for transportation within and between countries, food, and lodging. Additionally I am in need of funds for purchasing all my gear (tent, backpack, sleeping bag, etc.) and vaccinations or other medications (malaria pills, etc.) that I need for travel to these countries. If you’re interested in helping in this way please contact me directly at [email protected].
Again, thank you for all your love, support, and encouragement you have shown me over the last several weeks as I’ve begun this process. You have blessed me greatly and encouraged me more than you can know. Thank you for walking this journey with me.
Blessings on you,
Rachel
