I’m Fully Funded!

Although the last of the kind and generous donations is still being processed, I can say with so much joy and love that I am now fully funded! I want to thank each and every person who has walked with me through this journey, supported this mission, prayed over me and my team, and offered words of encouragement. Each of you has been a blessing far, far more than you can ever know, and you are certainly an answer to prayer.

This season has stretched and challenged me so much, but I am so grateful for it. As some of you may know, I wrestled a lot with the idea of asking people for money. But one of my friends, who is also in a season of fundraising for ministry (funny God’s timing on that one!), helped to shift my perspective. It’s about sharing what God has placed on your heart, sharing your vision for the trip, and inviting people into partnership with you – because they also see the vision.

I was anxious to share about my trip before my church, but again, God came through. I prayed, and He shifted my perspective. It wasn’t about being great at public speaking, or what people thought. God reminded me of what a joy and honor this experience will be. That I get to spend a whole year giving all of my focus to sharing the love of Christ.

There was a period where it felt like a dry spell. As I saw my deadlines approaching, I became so focused on the money and how I would reach them. But the first deadline came, and He gave me exactly what I needed. There was a whole slew of people who all donated within a few days. Little do you know, I was on the ground weeping and praising God! He gives us exactly what we need at exactly the right time. As the second deadline was coming up, God convicted me because I hadn’t prayed in a while about fundraising. I didn’t want to pray because I didn’t want to think about it. I was afraid. What if He didn’t come through? Really, I didn’t want to give up control. Surely, I could come up with a strategy. After some wrestling in my heart, I relented and laid it at His feet. I thought of what Gamaliel said in the book of Acts, when the Sanhedrin was trying to figure out what to do with the Apostles and the early church. He said, “Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God (Acts 5:38-39).” I cried out to God and said, “God, I believe you have called me to this, and what you begin, you will sustain and see it through to it’s completion.” This is God’s work, not my own – I’m just getting to participate in it. And after I prayed, I felt so much peace. There is so much freedom in giving up control to God!

Once I prayed, I felt God calling me to check my bank account. I remembered that I had a cost-of-living adjustment, and also had received a return on my taxes. So, in my head I was like, “of course, I can use this to help fund my trip too!” Little did I know that when I looked back through, I saw pockets of money going back to the start of the year (right after I signed up for the World Race) that I couldn’t explain – unless I received several large bonuses that I didn’t know about. Even before I had prayed for provision, even from the very moment of deciding to take this step of faith, God had been taking care of me behind the scenes. And since then, there has been just an abundance of generosity. This past month alone, I raised about 40% of the whole funding goal!

All in all, I hope that this will remind and encourage you that nothing is too big for God. He will make a way for you into what He is calling you to, in His timing and His plan. And I promise you His plan is way better than mine or yours.

And lastly, I ask that you join me in praying for the rest of my team to be fully funded, and, if you feel so called, to partner with them as well. Our final deadline to be fully funded is November 30, 2022.