For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.  – Romans 11:36 NIV

Carrie Wehrman // 2022 Summer Intern

I knew I would have to fundraise my salary for the summer internship before I even applied for the position. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do, because it requires that you ask people for money, but I wasn’t worried about getting all my funds in. Growing up in a large family and growing up being connected with the church gave me lots of opportunities to reach out to a large spread of a community of believers. 

It was here, in my pride, thinking that fundraising wouldn’t be a problem for me, that I was quickly humbled. 

I compiled a list of all the people and addresses that I would be sending support letters to. I wrote my letter, explaining what I would do this summer, asking for prayer, and humbly asking that people would also support me financially. I signed the letters, stuffed them in envelopes, and sent them out.

After only a few days, I had people calling me or running into me around town, telling me about how excited they were about my summer plans, and that they would gladly help support me. This was so encouraging to me – to know that people were excited to see how God had been working in my own life, and now to get to see and play a part, through financial support, in seeing how God would work through me to reach others throughout the summer!

Shortly after this, checks started coming in the mail. I received funds from some people that I did not expect – past teachers or coaches who I’m not necessarily in contact with anymore, even people who I thought might disregard my letter since FCA is a Christian organization. But there were some who generously donated to me, which was cool to see!

I was feeling pretty good about the funds that were coming in. I started writing thank you notes to all who had contributed. But looking at my total amount raised at that point, it wasn’t as close to reaching my goal as I had thought. I was convicted of my pride in this moment. Why did I think I shouldn’t rely on the Lord to move in people’s hearts, to nudge them to generously contribute to my fundraising? Here I was, thinking that I could raise the support easily, with no problem at all. Seeing how much still needed to come in, I turned to the Lord in prayer. I asked for his forgiveness in my pride, and also in my selfishness in thinking about the funds being my salary and not an offering to Him. I also asked for Him to provide, to nudge people to generously gift some of their finances.

A week later, I checked my support list, and a tremendous amount had come in! Now, maybe the list I had been looking at just hadn’t been updated when I last looked at it, but either way, I learned a valuable lesson (and a humbling one at that) in relying on God to provide. And even in His provision, His blessings weren’t solely for me. Because of the generosity of others, throughout my internship, I was able to invest in others and pour out the blessings that God had poured into me.

Through fundraising, I was reminded of this doxology:

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW

God really was the one providing for and blessing me through the generosity of others.

All in all, in fundraising, I would not say it is easy, but it is exciting to partner with people in your community to support the work God is doing!