God will expand your ability to give
About a month ago I was browsing around facebook. I laugh about it now because I don’t really like facebook. I’m only on to keep in touch with a handful of people that I only seem to stay connected with if I’m signed up with a facebook account. So I must have been bored to be browsing, which seems funny because I have two little boys ages 4 and 6, I homeschool and I teach two preschool classes once a week at our homeschool co-op. Boredom is not something that generally is part of my day! So for whatever reason, I was browsing and came upon a comment that Joy made to a mutual friend of ours, Landon. She said “We are in the Domincan Republic serving as Missionaries the last 7 years. Who would have thought?” I realized that I had vaguely known that Joy was doing something along those lines, but I had never really given in much thought. And then I saw the website link. From there I was hooked. Several days later Joy posted a video on facebook of her girls and this time I was in tears.
I knew that God wanted us to help. But I didn’t know how we could help. We had recently stopped sponsoring a child in India because of concerns that the funds we were sending were not be used as we originally thought. And so we were looking for a new child to help sponsor, however the children at New Hope needed 3 times the amount of money we were currently spending to take care of their needs per month. We knew that we could add a little to our monthly budget but we weren’t sure how we could get the whole amount. So I decided to pray and also to spread the word. I figured that if I told everyone I knew perhaps 1 or 2 people might actually be interested enough to get involved.
About two weeks later, I was asking God to show me how we could do something extra when an idea hit me right between the eyes. Brian and I are HUGE budget people. We plan and plan and sometimes over plan our finances. We have a certain amount of money that we budget for our heat bill each month and generally we have some extra left over every month, except our really cold months. The idea that God showed me, was to give every penny that was left from our heat bill in the month of November. I shared my thoughts with Brian and he was totally onboard. Now we just waited to see what God might do with those funds! And then I started to worry. I worried because November was turning into a very cold month.
There are soooo many verses in the Bible instructing us not to worry. God has everything in control, even our furnace! But at night when I heard that furnace going and going, I envisioned all of our pennies flying out into the cold night instead of into the hands of New Hope. I should have known that God not only was keeping our house nice and warm but was also making plans for our leftover pennies.
About 5 days ago our heat bill came. Brian was on his computer and did a little yell so I came down to see what that fuss was about. He had received our bill and the left over money was enough to sponsor one child at New Hope for a month! We were so excited that we decided to make some cuts in areas so that we could also send money for another child. Brian immediately went to the New Hope site and sent the money in. Our goal had been to pay for one child and with God’s leading we had found the funds to send money for two.
I don’t know what God is going to ask of me when it comes to being involved in New Hope in the future, but I know that I want to be obedient to His leading. Not only am I rejoicing that we were able to help children that desperately need it, but it was amazing to be in a position where I saw God at work. I encourage you to pray and ask God how you can help. If He is leading you to be involved in New Hope but you aren’t sure how, let Him show you the way. --Kristi Brackett Miller
Acts 20:35"I've never, as you so well know, had any taste for wealth or fashion. With these bare hands I took care of my own basic needs and those who worked with me. In everything I've done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You'll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, 'You're far happier giving than getting.'"