moves, money and motives.

God is faithful and He is good. He is currently proving His faithfulness and goodness in my life through the moves, money, and motives. Lots of fun updates below! 

Moves.

Last week, I said goodbye to my job at Target. I have spent the last 2 years working as an intern and then a manager for an absolutely amazing company. I have grown in leadership skills and learned tons about myself and about others. As I took my last drive home from work, the reality of what I am doing really began to sink in. I thought about my time at Target and the reason God had me there when He did. I believe that God strategically placed me there knowing the World Race was just around the corner. Target gave me an opportunity to have a secured job right out of college, live in Akron with my friends for another year, and pay off all of my student loans in order to be debt free going into the World Race. PRAISE HIM. I wouldn’t have wanted to do it any other way with any other company. I am going to miss that place, but I am excited for what’s next!

Now I am in the process of packing up life here in Akron and moving it back to Youngstown. I will be going from a nice spacious room to myself, to bunking in my sisters room in a house with 7 other people living inside of it. Prayers are much appreciated! *cue the nervous laughter* All jokes aside, I am so excited to make this move. I have been missing my family and friends back in Youngstown more than normal and I cannot wait to be back and spend the next couple of months hanging with them. But in every squeal of excitement, there is a small ounce of pain. Because in my case, moving home means leaving home. During the last 5 years, Akron has become home and it’s incredibly hard thinking about leaving. When the sadness sinks in, I am reminded of God’s goodness in that He has blessed me with two homes, two amazing churches, two family’s and five years of incredible memories. It’s all very bittersweet but the good thing is that Akron and Youngstown are only an hour apart so my Akron fam best believe I’ll be around.

Money.

When I first committed to the World Race, I knew that the biggest challenge leading up to launch would be the money. As a missionary for the World Race, I am responsible for raising $18,700 to cover the cost of the trip. I heard over and over again from WR advisors, past and current racers things like… “God will be faithful to get you where He has called you to go” “He will not ask you to go and then leave you.” “He is faithful to keep His promises.” “It’s going to require hard work but He will provide.” Hearing is different than believing and it took me some time to actually trust this concept. But God IS faithful and countless times He has proven this to me in the last couple of months.

I am excited to announce that I have hit my first fundraising goal of $5,000 weeks ahead of the scheduled deadline of July 20th. My second deadline is $10,000 by September 20th and I am well underway to getting there, currently sitting at $6,085. Day after day, God is surprising me in different ways by different people. People who I would have never thought, have given and given generously. God has blessed me with a growing team of monthly partners who have committed to financially blessing my ministry on a monthly basis so that even after I have left for my trip, there is still support coming in to help meet my goal. I am constantly being blown away by the generosity and support of others and I know that it has just gotten started.

Motives.  

God’s faithfulness in bringing in the money has been so evident but it has required a great deal of humility to be at a place where asking for support is a part of my norm. Two things that have always been difficult for me is talking about myself in great detail and asking for help. When I started to map out my fundraising plan, I realized that both of these things were going to have to be a part of everything I did. I hated the thought of it. It was uncomfortable and it was scary. But once again, God was asking me to step out in faith and say yes to what He was calling me to do, and this was all apart of it. But it has required me to drop my pride and in order to do that, I need to regularly check my motives.

Why am I going on the World Race? Why am I asking this individual to financially support my trip? Why am I planning this fundraiser? Why am I speaking in front of this group of people? Why am I writing this blog? None of the answers to these questions should be about me. God should be in the center of every one of these answers. When I start to put myself in the center, I immediately become burdened and fearful and things start to go south real quick. He is in control, not me. He is the reason for every action I am taking. He is my only motive.

I am continually reminding myself that this trip, this season of fundraising, this upcoming year is not about me, it’s about Him. Learning this has helped me rethink the entire idea of raising support. When I talk to people about the World Race, it’s not centered around talking about my life in great detail, it’s centered around talking about the Lord and all He is going to do through the race. When I ask people to help me financially, I am not asking them to support me, I am asking them to support the work of the Lord. All He asks of me is to show up prepared with a yes in my heart, trusting that He will take it from there. This shift in thinking takes the attention off of myself, and puts the attention on to the Lord. It is not me who raises the money, it’s Him. God gets all the glory, all the honor, and all the credit. Every. Single. Time.  

John 3:30

“He must become greater, I must become less.”  

I am 32.54% funded. HALLELUJAH! I am confident that the Lord will provide the next 67.46% but I need your help! Would you consider joining the work of the Lord as we set out to spread His love to the world? If you would like to give, please scroll to the top of this page and hit that orange donate button. If you would like to learn more about the race and my heart for this journey, I would love to meet with you and share more!

Blessings,

Cami