So I wasn’t sure if I was going to make my financial deadline on April 1st. I needed $9500, I was a full $2000 away from meeting that deadline, and I’d had ZERO TIME to get online to do fundraising. In an effort to raise support, I put together a recap video of the first 3 months and planned to post it online as quickly as I could so as to generate interest and support, and also to show past supporters how the Race has been going.
Well, that didn’t exactly happen, and here’s why: I put a lot of hours into the video, selecting the music, syncing it, and then carefully crafting the scene cuts and transitions. It was a BEAUTY. Everyone here loved it, and I was pumped to post it…but then I found out from my teammate Kayla that the song I had selected was written from an ungodly perspective, and with a not-very-Christ-like intention.
I was crushed. This song (which I will not name) is one of my absolute favorites in the whole world. It’s a song that’s pumped me up when I’ve been feeling down, one that I’ve jammed in the car at top-volume, and one that I just absolutely loved to sing. But after Kayla told me what she told me, I just couldn’t look at the song the same way. It took on a whole different meaning, knowing that it had been written with other intentions that I had thought previously. And then all the hours I had put into the video…believe me, I was devastated.
A few people recommended that I just post the video as-is, with that song on there. I had already put in the hours, and I was running short on time for my fundraising efforts. As one person put it: “It’s what the song means TO YOU. Not necessarily why it was written.” But that just didn’t sit right with me, and I just couldn’t bring myself to post it.
The problem still remained that I needed a recap video. And so I started the whole process over again, looking for a song, re-selecting the video clips, reorganizing, and workin tirelessly on the cuts and transitions. Finally, after several more hours of video editing, I had a new product. I posted it, feeling good about my decision, and waited (and waited, and waited) for the positive response to roll in…
That positive response never really came. I got some good feedback from a couple of close friends, but nothing like I expected. The video didn’t get very many Likes on Facebook, and I didn’t have all that many views on my blog.
Once again, I was crushed. I just knew I had made the wrong decision, that I had wasted my time fretting over that song…but then on the way to church, God spoke to me. As I was thinking about the video (and the accompanying song), I heard Him say: If you honor Me, I will honor you.
And He did. A family I know messaged me shortly thereafter to say that they were donating $1000 toward my ministry. And when I checked the fundraising account to see if it had posted yet, I saw that three days PRIOR, someone else had donated the EXACT SAME AMOUNT. That was a totally anonymous donation. I have no idea who it was, but I do know that God did exactly what He said He would do: He placed it on two people’s hearts to donate to this mission, and He did it well in advance of the deadline on April 1st.
He honored me, because I had honored Him.
Praise Jesus. 🙂
Coming to you LIVE from Bolivia, peeps. -K 🙂
P.S. To the anonymous donor: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY and for believing in this ministry. Every single dollar counts, and your gift was so needed and very much appreciated. God be with you. 🙂
