Well, it has been seven weeks since I began my fundraising campaign. It has not been an easy seven weeks, and I can tell you right now I am looking forward to being done raising support. However, raising support allows for a lot of spiritual growth and maturity. There is a lot of trust involved when leaning on God to raise a lot of money in a short amount of time. Personally, I have been struggling along the way. I am the kind of person who likes to make a plan and stick to it. By X week, I should be at X percentage. However, I am learning that fundraising does not always work that way. Like I said fundraising is all about trust. It has been a really cool journey along the way though. It has been cool to be able to watch God work through others and work in their hearts to support me. However, fundraising can often be extremely discouraging, as well.
It’s very easy to get discouraged and want to stop fundraising. I caught myself thinking the other day that I should just give up and find a real job somewhere in my field. Which is just ridiculous, since I have been wanting to do missions for years, and I feel called by God to this placement specifically. Trust is not seeing your progress “on schedule” or comparing your progress to the others around you. Trust is knowing you are doing God’s desire for your life and moving ahead, even when nothing seems to be working out.
During my devotionals this week I stumbled across one of my all-time favorite verses. Isaiah 6:8, which says ‘And I heard the voice of the Lord say “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” and I said “Here I am. Send me!”. As a kid I used to listen to a radio drama called Adventures in Odyssey. There was an episode about this verse that really made an impact on me. Since then I have always loved this verse and stumbling across it again helped me to remember why I am doing what I am doing. Even though it seems difficult at this point, God chose me for a specific purpose. I am going to serve abroad because God asked me to, and he will provide for me, so why am I worried?