When He moves mountain ranges…
One should never be surprised when God not only moves an in-the-way mountain, but moves the entire mountain range instead…but He still surprises me, even shocks me.
On July 29th I sent out a call for help to do what still seemed impossible to me…to raise $1700 a month or $17,000 for the next 10 months.
It’s done…like completely done…like more than done…
I had worked so hard this summer putting in hour after hour, week after week toward support raising and I had only made a dent it seemed. The original amount to raise was $2467 a month or $29,604 for the year, if you’re wondering. Maybe the dent I made was more sizable than I thought.
I was tired. I wanted desperately to be done before Fall Start Up began. That begins for us on July 23rd with Staff Retreat. So I was already behind when I sent out the plea on July 29th.
On August 4th, we had just returned from a training in Colorado and a church service up in Salt Lake. I received a text asking me how much we had left to raise. I embarrassingly replied with “$1700 a month or $17,000 for the next 10 months.” It felt like I hadn’t done my job and I hadn’t worked hard enough.
Truthfully in these short one day breaks between work and trips, I just wanted to watch the Olympics, so I would sit on the couch with my kiddos and watch the Olympics while in the back of my head I would hear a voice, “You need to be raising support.” Interestingly enough there was another voice in the background saying, “Watch the Olympics. I got this.”
I would check our account every morning waiting for the miracle and still chastising myself for not working harder. On the morning of August 8th, I checked our account and was sure there was a mistake. The month had closed out the day prior so our account should be really low. It was not. It was at $21,100. I double, triple, quadruple checked and it was correct. The person that texted on August 4th had put in a $20,000 gift! The next day, we received another crazy generous gift of $1200!
I could not picture what was going on behind the scenes as God was calling people to give the most generous gifts they have ever given.
Our supporter who came out on a spring break missions trip in 2018 told me her story. “It's been my goal in life to be able to write a check that big.”
She was in church and asked God, “Is it ok to give this money to the Lemons?” She had never done this before, but she asked God to give her a sign so she would know to give it to us. She left church and ended up on a street named “Lemon.” She then went to a bookstore and as she walked in immediately noticed the entire front display was lemon-themed. God’s definitive answer made her laugh.
And it kind of makes me cry…why? Why would he do so much for me? And yet He has done it for the lost around me…he had named streets after me and rearranged store displays for me and for my lost friends. He is too good. That is all.
P.S.
So if you were thinking to yourself…oh shoot…I was going to give, you still can! We are raising our fall start up funds for the Chi Alpha account…I still worry about this a little because it is crunch time…I know I need to be slapped…I’m still working on this trust thing…
It's that time of year, and we need your help to do Fall Start Up well!
Almost every student that stays connected with us, we meet during the first two weeks on campus.
So here's what we need:
$500 - University of Utah Fall Events
(this includes raffles, giveaway and a ton of otter pops)
$600 - Utah Valley University Fall Events
(this includes raffles, giveaway and a ton of otter pops)
$1800- Hang outs & Food for Weekly Meetings
(If we feed them, they will come!)
$600 - Equipment
$500 - Student Leader Training and Resource Group
$500 - Staff Training
$4500 - TOTAL
How to Give:
Online: https://chialpha.churchcenter.com/giving
(Click on General Fund)
Venmo: @xautah
You can also send a check to:
Utah Chi Alpha
716 S 850 E
Orem, UT 84097
We are grateful for all of your support, now and always!