Oct
06
About a month or so ago I began the exciting task of fundraising for my year in China. ELIC has been really great providing resources and training for this endeavor, and one of the things they provided was a book called Funding Your Ministry by Scott Morton. I highly recommend the book for anyone who has to raise support for any type of ministry. It's full of helpful information and Morton writes in a way that is both biblical and practical. Well anyway, at one point he writes about praying for your donors and even praying for people to give without asking. He gives examples from his own life, where he just prayed people would give and sure enough the checks came in. I remember reading that and thinking, man it sure would make my life a whole lot easier if people just gave and I didn't have to do anything. Kinda like manna falling from heaven or something. But really I thought, he probably prays a lot more than me and he's even written a book so that kind of stuff only happens to people who are super spiritual - it won't happen to me. Honestly, my whole perspective on fundraising was a lot like pulling teeth. Necessary, but not enjoyable. People don't just give, you have to coax them. Today I came home for work and my mail was piled neatly on a table in my room. There was a small envelope addressed to me with a return address from one of my high school teachers. Intrigued, I opened it up to find a check and a brief note, saying she ran into Christie at the grocery store and somehow it came up that I was going to China to teach next year. Turns out her own daughter is in Honduras with a missions organization, and she wanted to contribute to my financial need. I was completely shocked and overwhelmed! This is such a sweet reminder of the how the Lord's faithfulness and provision are not dependent on me at all. Guess you don't have to be super spiritual or write a book for the Lord to work.
praise God for manna from heaven! ;)
and so it is
you should have a bake sale! and by bake sale i mean make me cookies.
woo-hoo! I love how the Lord constantly exceeds our expectations =)