Hello all!
It’s time for everyone’s favorite kind of blog update– FUNDRAISING!! Yay!!
At the beginning of this month, the Lord told me that fundraising for November would look different. Well… he’s not wrong; this month does look different. It involves me, writing this blog, and asking you for your support.
Support blogging is still relatively new to me, so please bear with me as I figure out what exactly it looks like.
As of actually writing this blog, I have raised $10,171!
Never in my life have I ever actually had that much money, but God does amazing things for amazing purposes.
But! The deadline for $12,000 was actually November 15th, so I am $1,829 away. While I am not panicking like I was at the very beginning of this journey, I am trying to partner with the Lord this month on the subject of fundraising. And his answer was to write a blog!! So here we are.
My next deadline for fundraising is on December 15th for $14,000! And then after that on January 15th, I should be fully funded by then with $15,800!
That is a lot of money. Of which I have no control over coming to me at all. Because it’s in the Lord’s hands. And it’s in your hearts to decide if he is asking you to partner with him or not.
As many of you may know, I struggled with fundraising to the point of almost not being able to come on this particular trip, but the Lord pulled through and here I am to do his work!
His work looks like all kinds of things- like working for Samaritan’s Purse in Louisiana, and letting the Lord work in my life in order to be the best I can be.
Something the Lord has been working on in my life has been my past, my present, and my family, and tying all those things together in a beautiful story that is still being written. I have also been learning to do the things he has been telling me to do and realizing that doing them actually isn’t as bad as I think they are going to be.
Mostly, I’ve been realizing that the Lord loves me, in the most beautiful way that there is to learn that. Slowly and over time, but I have been letting the Lord pursue me in the way he wants to pursue me.
The things over the past three months that have been the most impactful on my life have actually been the ones I didn’t expect. We’ve had teachings on the spiritual gifts, teachings on how to minister to people of other countries and religions, but the most impactful thing to me has actually been learning that this is really the Lord’s work, and we’re the ones he uses in order to do it.
That always used to baffle me as a kid. My dad would often talk about how it’s our job to go out and do things in missions, but I never understood that it would be with the Lord by our side. That’s why I was hesitant to do missionary things, because I always thought the pressure was on me and how I performed doing the work of the Lord, but that’s not really it at all. The Lord has chosen me to help him reconcile the nations. And it doesn’t matter if I mess it up, because it’s his plan, not mine.
I have been learning to let myself be loved, because that’s something I find hard to let other people do for me unless it’s my family. But having this community that continually chooses to love me whether I like it or not is a new and exciting experience, and one that I was unprepared for until people explained it to me.
The journey so far has been that I have learned the Lord has this in his hands, and that he enjoys blessing me. Even when I can’t see it, or understand it, or even when I don’t know that I don’t want it.
The Lord has been walking me through knocking down the walls in my life that I have created over the years, and that involves family and my image of myself. He is rebuilding me the way he knows is best!
Also, I made this cool video about our time in Louisiana and helping with Samaritan’s Purse which you can find here!
Unfortunately, though, right now my entire squad and team are all in quarantine because of COVID-19 and we are all separated so as not to get people sick. I miss my team, but I am staying at a house with the people on my squad who did not test positive for COVID. A way you can support me and my whole squad without donating is by keeping us in your prayers for a fast recovery for those who tested positive and being able to see each other again soon.
I think that’s it for now. As I said- support blogging is relatively new to me, so… I’m not sure how to ask in a politically correct way to help me forward the kingdom by donating to help me with my trip, but I think that’s a pretty good way to do it.
I am learning to ask for help! Growth!
Remember you can donate to me using that very large DONATE! button at the top of the page, or you can mail it to me by check, or give my parents some cash and they’ll take care of it, or you can venmo me @shobogans. Or, we can talk and probably find another new and creative way to make it happen.
Thanks for bearing with me through this new kind of blog.
Until next time,
Sophia
