My family and I have served as full-term missionaries in Papua New Guinea, and as short-term missionaries (15 months) in Haiti. In each case, raising the finances seemed to draw all (or at least, most) of our focus.
We always hear from others, “Money is the least of your concerns. When God decides it’s “time to go”, the funds will come in.” Some may find these words “encouraging”, others may find them “trite”. Some may say, “Yeah, well, you kind of have to say that…that’s what missionaries always say.”
Well, now you can hear it from “the horse’s mouth”: it was true for us, in every case, including the furloughs in-between terms. I remember our finances were “short” just over $350/month in “promised support.” We had only days to go before our mission organization would “pull the plug” and say we missed the deadline, and we’ll try again in 6-months (based on open training dates). With just days to go, a colleague at my job walked up to me and said he and his wife wanted to support us. I was happy to hear that another “small brick” would be put in place; another chipping away of the huge boulder that seemed to stop us. I asked him, “How much do you think you’d be able to do?” His reply shocked me, and humbled me: “We’d like to give $375 per month.”
You must remember, this was not coming from a church with hundreds of people and a bountiful budget. It came from one family! This mission support promise put us “over the top”, and we were on our way! Glory to God.
If and when God wants you to go, you will GO!
-Gary Skrobot
Add A Comment