Fundraising, what an intimidating word, at least that’s what I thought. Through this process I have found it is not as intimidating with God’s support.
Before I started fundraising for this trip, I would have said I hate fundraising. I always felt strange asking people for money. Even as a little girl when I was sent home with catalogs of pizza and wrapping paper for my sports teams I would ask the same people, my mom, my two grandmothers and if I was feeling ambitious, my aunts and uncles. Once our freezer was crammed with pizza and we were stocked with wrapping paper to last three Christmas’s I would call it a day with fundraising. This time I couldn’t ask my family to buy a lifetime supply of pizza and wrapping paper so I needed to bring in reinforcements – God.
Once I realized I wasn’t just asking my friends and family for money but I was asking God, I allowed my faith to kick in. So far, I have been so blessed by my parents and grandparents for all their support and until this time I did not feel like I relied on God to provide. I would only turn to God in crisis, yet now that I am relying on Him 100% as I prepare and raise funds for this mission trip, I have found I am bringing all of my needs to Him first. It feels great, being able to put my burdens on Christ instead of figuring it out on my own.
While I have been fundraising, God has been working with me, forcing me to trust Him. Every time I begin to obsess about funds and try to figure out how I will make this work I see no change, yet the moment I re-evaluate and put my faith back in God and not myself I am encouraged by the appearance of donations. God is training me to trust him. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19
God has blessed my efforts and shown His support by helping me reach and surpass my first fundraising goal. Thanks to everyone’s support I will be attending training camp October 15- 25 where I will meet the rest of my team as well as prepare physically, emotionally and spiritually for this journey.
