Fundraising is almost always a stressful part of preparing for missions, whether it be a week of service, several months of training, or a lifetime of evangelism. When we’re starting out, we don’t have the guarantee that anyone at all will be interested, and it’s hard to plan exactly when you’ll get all the funding you need.
Through reading The God Ask (which I mentioned in an earlier post), I learned a lot about how to properly approach this challenge and a whole lot about what attitude to take to the task. It’s all about relationships, as almost everything is. I’ve had the opportunity to talk with several people about what I’m doing, and I’ve shared my passion and excitement with many of you. With that, I’m happy to announce that through the generous support of you all (who I’m glad to call friends) I have reached my budget for this fall!!
Through my own personal work and savings, I’ve even surpassed that budget. I am beyond thankful for this, as it means that in the event the first budget I’ve ever made isn’t 100% reflective of my needs, I won’t be worrying about where to come up with extra grocery money. And I’ll also have enough money to get a haircut every month, which after the last few months of quarantine I’ve come to realize is actually a really nice routine. In addition to that, surpassing 100% means I have money to save for whatever future endeavor God guides me towards next.
These last few months of fundraising and preparation have certainly been interesting. I’ve said it often and I’ll say it again: God either really likes messing with me or really likes testing my faith. They’re probably the same thing. Up until about a month ago I was at roughly 50% of my funding and busied myself calculating how many hours I’d need to work to be able to get to 100%. Then the messages, calls, and conversations began and I got to witness God’s amazing providence through the hands of so many people I’ve known from church, childhood, and family reunions.
God is faithful, but I’m still pretty sure He likes messing with me.
So glad to hear you met your budget! There will always be unexpected things come up, so I am sure God will also provide above your budget for those things. 🙂