May he give you the desire of your heart
and make all your plans succeed.
May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
and make all your plans succeed.
May we shout for joy over your victory
and lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.
Psalm 20:4-5 NIV
This past spring, I learned of another scrapbooking event to benefit a local family. Teresa is an avid scrapbooker and her husband is battling colon cancer. They are a happily married Christian couple living in Oxford with their three kids. Even though I did not know her personally, her story hit me pretty hard since I saw similarities with my own family- we, too, are a happy Christian family of five and Rick had a health scare not that long ago. I wanted to at least go to give my financial support. Unfortunately, this event didn’t happen either.
About 2 months ago, I still couldn’t shake the idea of a scrapbook get-together, so I decided to try one more time. It seemed like I had approximately 15 ladies that were interested. Once I started looking into a location, I noticed that finding an affordable venue that was semi-close that could hold about 10-20 of us (which requires a good amount of room! We crafty-people take up a lot of space!) and included tables, chairs, and appropriate lighting was a real task!
My daughters’ former preschool was held at local church only a few miles from my house. The church has a large open community room in the back of the building- this was the room we were thinking of using the year before. I still had connections with the Pastor and quite a few of the preschool teachers- so I sent an email: Would it be an option for a group of approximately 15 crafty ladies to use your facilities for twelve hours on a Saturday, and if so, how much would you charge?
I got an email back almost instantly from the Pastor: Yes, they would love for us to use the room...for free. Free. We were willing to pay, but the Pastor would not accept any donations to the church or preschool, but he loved the idea of money going to a local charity to help families in need. Together, we decided to have all the entrance money go towards Blessings in a Backpack of Oxford (a local chapter of a nation-wide organization that feeds low income kids on the weekends) and since Teresa’s event never came to be, we decided to have a raffle with all proceeds going to her family. To keep costs down, we would not have food, making this affordable for our community. All of the money that came in would go back out to help our local families. I contacted the Blessings team and Teresa and both were excited for any donations we would raise.
We had a location. We had a date and time. We had our charities. We had a purpose.
And just like that, God had opened a huge door.
If this event was going to happen, I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I gathered up a few of my crafty girlfriends and some other volunteers to make up my “team”. I know this group was fashioned by God because we complimented each other with our different talents: from organizing to decorating to volunteering to go door-to-door of local businesses (Thankfully God put that lady in my group because that was something I am not comfortable with!). Together, we made a great team. Where one of us lacked, another excelled. This was such a well-rounded group of wonderful ladies. God gave me exactly who I needed to make this event a success.
I posted a note with our plan on a few local facebook groups- almost instantly we had small business owners offering their services, raffle items, donations, and money. Before we even posted a sign-up flier, we had 20 local businesses willing to help us.
God was opening that door just a little wider! Things were starting to really come together.
The flier was posted and registrations started coming in, however, I was not getting the participation I was hoping for. We estimated we could hold 40 crafters. My initial goal was 15 people, but I was really hoping for at least 20 crafters and would be thrilled if we had 30 ladies signed up for our first event. By the end of the “early-bird” sign-up deadline, we only had 18 people. I kept telling myself that it was $200 for Blessings they didn’t have before- but I wasn’t satisfied. God had already put this on my heart and opened so many doors- I knew He wasn’t done yet.
So, I prayed. I prayed for more wonderful crafty ladies to join us and help raise money for these charities. I prayed for His will to be done. I prayed for His help. I prayed for Him to help me do what He needed me to do.
....and God responded in a huge way.
November 25th at 9 am, our doors opened. The community room was packed with tables and chairs to host the 43 registered crafters (and more ladies were on a waiting list!). Our 13 vendors packed the sides of the community room, the hallway, and the upper level of the church building. 52 different local organizations and businesses contributed to our event. We gave away 70 donated prizes in various drawings, raffles, and games. Each crafter left with a packed goodie-bag full of donated samples, treats, and trinkets. The main raffle, consisting of 45 AMAZING prizes, allowed us to raise $792 for Teresa’s family. The entrance fee and other games/donations allowed us to raise $921 for Blessings in a Backpack.
1 day. 12 hours.
Over the last few days, I have received many “good job” and “I’m so proud of you” messages... but I can tell you with a certain heart, this was not because of Me. MY plan was a group of 10-12 people getting together to scrapbook, God’s plans were so much greater than I could have ever imagined. I am humbled and overcome with amazement that He, the creator of the universe, could use me and my love of pretty paper as a starting point to host such a successful event for so many deserving families. I have such a full heart for this amazing community I live in, for the people that I am surrounded by, and for the protection and promises of our Lord.
But once again, God’s not done- in fact, I have the feeling this is just the beginning. My “team” is already talking about hosting a reoccurring event every Spring and Fall. Less than 12 hours after posting a “save the date” note for a potential date in April, we already have 22 people wanting to sign up and help out and many businesses are already willing to donate...to an event we haven’t even started planning!
I love to scrapbook and God gave me the desire to share my hobby with others. I couldn’t have done this alone, so He equipped me with what I needed to succeed- He sent me the right people and businesses to help me where I lacked and to fill in the missing pieces.
I just wanted to scrapbook..... and funny enough, I never even took my scrapbook stuff out of my bag!
This event opened my eyes to see where else I can use my talents, hobbies and passions to help others. I hope that others can see past me and my many faults... and they can see His light shining through because I want to give all the glory to Him. I know this is so much more than ‘me’.
You are no different. You are capable of turning those small ideas into life-changing moments. You have talents and hobbies and passions too. Listen to those desires God placed on your heart and believe that with Him, anything is possible.
You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
2 Corinthians 9:11-12 NIV
