I just wanted to make a quick post to update everyone on fundraising and to share about what God is teaching me through this process. I have fundraised over 75% of the amount needed for my trip and have just under 2 weeks to meet my full goal. I am amazed to have reached this point and know that it is a work of Christ for me to be this close to my final goal. God has truly used this fundraising experience as an opportunity to teach me. I started this fundraising journey with what I believed to be full trust in the Lord through this process. I was steadily making process towards my fundraising goals through selling things and reaching out to people but a few weeks ago I started to feel panicked. I needed to have $4,800 raised by December 23 and as of December 20, I did not even have $3000 raised. I felt like there was no way I could raise over $1800 in a matter of three days. I started to lose faith in my ability to meet my deadlines and felt like God had abandoned me in this process. I was feeling utterly hopeless when I checked my phone and saw that I had received a very generous donation. It did not bring me to the full amount I needed for my deadline, but it was a step big step in the right direction, and it sent a clear message from Christ. It was His reminder to put my complete trust in him in this process, and to not just claim that I was. I needed to actually believe in the words of Philippians 4:19 which says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” Christ will meet my needs and I should not question his ability to do so. I was too focused on what I was doing for fundraising and focusing on my own abilities that I was blind to the ways that He was working.
In case His message wasn’t loud and clear the first time, God gave me another reminder the next day when I was doing an Advent devotional. The main verse it focused on was Isaiah 55:8 which states, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.” This verse was accompanied by some follow up questions which asked:
- In what situations in your life are you trusting that your ways are better than God’s?
- In what area of your life have you forgotten that the God you serve is the God of the unexpected?
- What unwelcome or unexpected circumstances do you need to surrender to God fully, trusting that His ways are higher?
That last question especially felt like it demanded an answer from me. I really wasn’t planning on my Advent study providing me with the exact words I needed to hear and the exact questions that I needed to ask myself. The whole fundraising experience was so hard for me to understand because God’s plans for providing funds for my trip were in ways I can’t understand. His ways will always be different from my own and they are SO much greater than anything that I could have planned. This was the last shove I needed from Christ to surrender this whole process to Him.
I am so grateful for God’s grace and patience with me. After I had this realization about my need to truly surrender, God continued to show up in the most unexpected ways. One of which that I want to share with you guys in through a man who liked a mask my brother-in-law was wearing at the dentist. I was able to connect with this man who sold multiple masks for me and I was able to make more sweet connections through this one stranger. Just because he liked a mask, I was able to share my trip with many more people and have even more prayer warriors supporting my trip now. This was so unexpected but was greater than anything I had planned. I am now past my 75% goal and am trusting in the God of the unexpected through the final stretch of fundraising.
