My twelve weeks of full-time fundraising are officially behind me. I’m not quite fully funded yet, but I am far enough along where I can look back and see what God was showing me in the process. Consider my takeaways my memorial stones of my fundraising season; reminders of God’s help and goodness. Like memorial stones in the Bible, it’s important for me to stop and recognize all that God has done to get me to this point and give Him praise for it.
Here are my three main takeaways from my fundraising experience:
-
God honors obedience. He called you to go overseas with GoCorps and preach the Gospel. How cool! And better yet, He’s excited that you’ve said “yes”! It would have been much easier to say that missions is for someone else, to not finish the GoCorps application, to not go to GoWeek, and to not put forth your best effort in fundraising. God knows that part of the call to GoCorps is the call to support raise. He’s fully aware of it, and He even knows who will answer His call to support you. Walk into this experience confidently knowing that God’s got you covered. The support raising experience does feel like a trust fall, but God will be there to catch you. Even if your experience looks nothing like you think it will.
-
Your support raising experience will look nothing like what you think it will look like. The easiest ways to avoid feeling defeated is to avoid setting expectations and to avoid comparing your fundraising journey to other Goers’ journeys. This sounds simple, but for me it was so difficult to see that the journey God has me on is the one He wants me on. I felt like I was so behind for the first six weeks, and then in November, God provided over half of the support I needed. Raising over 50% of my needed financial support in just one month is unheard of and for me, is a true testament to God's faithfulness! This experience confirmed my call to missions and grew my dependence on God.
-
It’s not all on you - it’s on God. I remember being frustrated and disappointed with myself after a few meetings because I didn’t present my mission very well. I stumbled over my words, forgot a section or two, and even sounded a bit unsure if this is what I am supposed to be doing postgrad. In the meetings where I felt the least confident in myself and my abilities, God would surprise me, and the person would be eager to support me. Contrarily, in meetings where I felt very confident in my presentation, some people would decide not to give. This showed me that I have very little control in who decides to give, but I am to give my best effort in support raising and let God handle the rest. It’s not all on me to make this happen, God called me to GoCorps so He is responsible for getting me to the field.
If you are thinking about taking the next step with GoCorps and are hesitant about fundraising, I would challenge you to go all-in on trusting God. Look back at your life and think about the times God has come to your rescue or provided for you. What memorial stones do you see in your life already? If He’s done it before, He can do it again!