With 10,000 Beside

By Corrie McKee

It was a hot day in late August, and the US was right in the middle of the 2008 recession.

It was the last week before my deadline of raising the full amount to be a campus minister to university students. All I could think about were the students I would be reaching once I actually arrived. But how to get there remained to be seen.

Many well-meaning people had discouraged me from raising support at a time when the economy had taken a plunge.

But nothing could kick the divine sense I had that I was supposed to take this risk and step out on a limb.

I had done all the work needed: the letters, the phone calls, the meetings, the group presentations, the response cards, the asks. I reasoned that my network of contacts was large enough to raise half of my intern budget. By the end of the summer, I had met this goal.

Yet – there was still the other half to be raised, and I only had one week before I was to move to my campus assignment.  Months of hard work all came down to this critical last week. All I could do now was wait.

Monday morning of that week, I had an indescribable sense of peace. As I walked into work that morning, the song “Great is Thy Faithfulness” ran through my head, especially this line:

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Ten thousand. That was the same amount of money I needed to meet my budget! I watched that week as pledges were made and gifts were deposited into my Donor Tracking Account. One man sold his stock for a couple thousand dollars; another church plant in Ireland sent a check for $1,000. Numerous individuals gave sacrificial amounts from their own paychecks…in the middle of a recession.

By the end of the week $10,000 had been given.

I was shocked.

Two days later, I moved to my mission field: the university campus.

Throughout my 2008-09 intern year, I ended up raising 150% of my budget. Though I had not planned to stay more than one year, I figured the surplus was God’s sign of leading me to stay on staff.

In year two, my budget amount doubled, but so did God’s faithfulness, along with brand new large networks of joyful givers. Nine years later, having ended a career in ministry, I was fully funded every year - an act of God’s faithfulness!

What did I learn from this experience?

I learned that it is not wrong to ask for blessings, especially when those blessings are for the furthering of God’s Kingdom. After all, we are blessed to be a blessing! We can be confident as we ask Him and others for provision.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

- Hebrews 4:16

I learned that God is faithful. He will not lead you to a place where He won’t provide for you. It may not be in the time or the way you expected, but He will provide.

If you are staring at the insurmountable mountain ahead called “support raising,” know that all the resources of our limitless God are available to you. Do not be afraid to ask with confidence. Take the needed steps to prepare for success, cover it all with prayer, and then watch Him work!