BBQ Fundraiser: Where God Proved His Faithfulness

Tony Balay. The BBQ man himself.

On Sunday after church, we had a BBQ fundraiser for our trip to Zimbabwe. Tony Balay, a Texas native donated his time & BBQ mastery to provide a fantastically delicious meal for the congregation. The Rimrock missions team, our parents, and other friends & family donated desserts & their time to make this lunch a success! Whenever Kameron or I started a task like serving meat, refilling water pitchers, or tearing down tables at the end of the event, there was a crowd of people that took the responsibility from us so we could meet with interested persons and share our story with others. There was a donation bucket at the front of the line with no "suggested donation" but the congregation emptied their pockets and gave generously! Now as I sit typing up this post, we have 39% of our financial needs pledged & paid for! God is faithful!

Why is it, though, that we doubt God's faithfulness? 

In the days, hours, and minutes before the BBQ began, I was doubting His faithfulness HARDCORE! I was putting all the responsibility on myself, not even sharing tasks with Kameron. All that pressure made me so discouraged and stressed out to the max! The night before I barely slept, and when I did I dreamt that nobody came to the meal. In another dream, so many people came to the event, but we only raised $1. one.stinkin.dollar. Oh boy. Then on Sunday morning, Kam & I arrived early to begin prep-work. & I realized that we had SO MUCH TO DO (& no time to do it in). As the church service started and Kam & I had to make an announcement to the congregation, I was pretty certain that come eating time, there would be no food for people to eat. The guy with the meat was running late. So we would be serving potato salad and lettuce salad. Yum. 

But as we returned from making our announcement there was a noticeable shift. Help had arrived. People were accomplishing tasks. We were more upbeat. We had been prayed over in front of the church & the Holy Spirit came down and acted on us and on the BBQ event. As the first people went through the line, everything was amaze-balls. And let me tell you. We raised more that $1 that day. Oh boy! There was a line so long, you couldn't see the end. It extended to the back of the fellowship hall, up the stairs to the sanctuary. And people stood in line for an HOUR! 

& like I mentioned before --- we are now 39% funded.

Sometimes we feel like it's the two of us trying to get ourselves to Zimbabwe to accomplish our own dreams & adventures. No. God is getting us there to accomplish His work. We are not in this alone. God has called us, and He is faithful to His promises. Duh. We need to stop doubting that.

I'm ending with one last picture from the BBQ, of us with one of my favorite families. The Ewings. I wrote a post on Nic, the dad, a few days ago (read it here).  Nic was my youth pastor & the officiant at our wedding. His wife Sherri is my good friend and mentor. These kids are a joy to my heart every time I see them. Please keep praying for his health and his faith and his family.