"THE GOOD STUFF"

 

 

The last year has been filled with so many amazing growth spurts for New Hope in terms of facility, staff, and the number of girls we serve.  It has blown our mind and made us sing and dance and cry humble tears of awe and gratitude.  We celebrated a year of firsts in our new home, “Casa Luz y Esperanza" - House of Light and Hope. 

 

We have served over 20 girls in our intake room since it opened in March, and we are now serving close to 100 girls each week through our outreach programs.

Our workshop is now onsite and running eight industrial machines, thus providing vulnerable moms with a dignified way to provide for their kids.  This is a true answer to prayer!

But there are growing pains, as well.  As we embrace the new, we reflect on the best practices of our past that we never want to leave behind.

In a recent staff meeting, we remembered the paper chains that hung in our first house, “Nueva Esperanza”- New Hope.  They hung as concrete reminders of our answered prayers.  We prayed over our simplest requests to our biggest dreams that we wrote on strips of paper and then assembled into chains as they were answered.

Mama Negra suggested that we return to this practice, saying, "May we NEVER forget where every good and perfect gift comes from.” Everyone agreed.  We remembered how we prayed in everything from our rice to our refrigerator and then our land.  God never once failed us. 

With the new facility, monthly finances are tighter than ever and it is time to “pray in the provision.” 

Saturday evening, the phone rang.  When I noticed it was Mama Negra, I hoped it wasn’t drama.  It wasn’t!  She was audibly glowing, beaming, and so excited to tell me a God Story. 

She had been praying for milk.  Her weekly food budget wasn’t stretching like before, and there was a company that had delivered milk once and had promised a donation of milk every three months.  But we hadn’t heard from them in a year!  She began to pray for them and pray for milk and pray that God would supply the necessary funds to feed the girls well in her new kitchen.  She specifically prayed that God would remind that company of their commitment to supply our girls with milk.  And not just the expired, inferior quality milk but “The Good Stuff."

 

After not hearing from them for a year, on Saturday evening they had shown up with 20 boxes of milk, and it was “The Good Stuff!”  She was overwhelmed.  Every donor likes to have their gift received with gratitude, but they weren’t prepared for her emotional response to their donation.  She had to explain.  “You see, God used you to answer our prayers, and this milk is proof of His provision, His love, His perfect gifts - "The Good Stuff!” 

Another link in the chain, more proof of His goodness, faithfulness and favor.

Hang it up so we never forget!

Why do we ever worry about tomorrow?  We do we fret?  All the “Good Stuff" comes from Him, and He never fails!

"Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God, who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow."  - James 1:17