Top 5 Things I Learned During Support Raising
1. God is faithful and good and will deliver on His promises. So, I guess I knew this before support raising, but it was really confirmed and validated during this whole process. I never questioned if I would become fully-supported by the deadline. I knew in my heart and soul that God would come through as long as I put in the effort. With this mindset, I decided to challenge myself, and God, to be fully funded before my deadline. And God was faithful to deliver on that promise! Time and time again throughout my meetings, phone calls, emails, God showed his faithfulness and goodness. Those moments are what I will take with me on the field as reminders.
2. People are generous, good, and kind. I think I often forget how good and generous people are. Just turn on the news and you will hear stories of the corrupt, evil ways of humanity. But you don’t have to look hard to find kind-souls. People want to give, and they want to be a part of something bigger than their own lives.
3. To raise support, you need to lay down your pride. I didn’t think I was a very prideful person until I started support raising. My parents are one of my biggest financial partners, but it took me laying down my pride to realize that this is their way of being involved and supporting me. Initially, I didn’t want them involved because I wanted to do this on my own to prove something. Pride really does come before a fall.
4. I still don’t enjoy making phone calls. I probably never will. There are so many enjoyable, rewarding parts of fundraising. I love meeting with people, hearing their stories, asking them to be a part of my journey. I don’t love making phone calls, and that’s okay. There are parts of this process that aren’t fun, but God doesn’t just call us to do the fun, fulfilling things. He also calls us to do the hard, uncomfortable stuff.
5. You are not alone in your fears, struggles, anxiety, etc. One of the most beneficial parts of support raising through GoCorps is your cohort. These are people who are literally going through some of the exact same things you are. Once we all started being vulnerable and sharing our struggles and fears, we all realized that we were not alone in those feelings. Those fears and anxieties have a lot less power over us when we realize we are not alone.
Support raising grew me, stretched me, made me uncomfortable, but also made me more confident in myself, my calling, and in God. Things I learned in support raising, I will take with me on the field. These are life and faith lessons, not just lessons for one stage of my life. I am so grateful and thankful to be someone who has the support and partnership of others in my calling.