So far this World Race journey has been a lot ups and downs, honestly its felt more like there have been more downs than ups. Most of these downs have been from the fundraising realm. I feel like I’ve tried everything in the book but nothing has seemed to take hold.
The biggest “failure” so far has been the 5K that I planned, I advertised, invited people, bought shirts, medals, had sponsors, everything you need for a successful race. Race day comes, everything is coming together smoothly, we head to the course and it becomes a waiting game. A few people start showing up and I’m thinking ok, we’re going to have a good crowd! It gets 30 minutes before start and its slowed down, people aren’t showing up, and I’m getting worried. It gets down to 10 minutes left and 1 or 2 more people come in, and I begin to realize, this is not going to go well. Only 10 people wound up showing up for the 5K, I was expecting at least 50, maybe more. I’m heartbroken, but more than that I’m confused. I start asking the Lord, “Why was this a failure, I did everything I needed to do to make it successful, why did it flop?” He then says, “Where is your Faith?” That simple, just those 4 words.
You see here is what I did, I went about the 5K on my own accord, doing everything humanly possible to make it successful; but leaving out the most important part, HIM. I didn’t pray for the fundraiser, I asked others to, but I personally didn’t. How can I expect something to be successful if I don’t include Him? All of this is happening around the finish line and I find myself crying and repenting for not trusting Him to be the God that provides. We go about the rest of the evening, doing the awards ceremony, cleaning up etc. I have a 2 hour drive back to Louisville, and I’m getting overwhelmed the entire ride. I have worship music playing, just really in a zone of despite this being a bad day, He is still faithful and worthy of my praise. During this car ride, He asked me, “Will you trust me?”
Side note, at this point I am needing around 2,000 dollars to meet my first fundraising goal, so this 5K was my big plan to meet that goal. I tell Him I will, and I leave it at that. This is where I love Him, sometimes He makes us wait to see the fruit of our faith, and other times He does it quickly. The next morning I get handed a check for nearly $1100, plus not to mention I had spoken at a church the week before and got a significant amount as well. All in all, in a matter of days I had over $2,000 dollars in funds come in, and I’m not at 42% funded. So in about 3 days I went from 24% to 42%! WON’T HE DO IT?!?!?!
So I’m encouraged, do I still have around 10,000 dollars to raise? Yep, sure do! But He is proving Himself over and over, that what He calls you to He will provide for it! I’m sure the next few months are going to still be moments of failure, frustration and faith, but come January when I launch it will all be worth it!
