When I started working with House of Hope this year, I really had the mindset of "oh, all this will take is a little organization and networking and a key point person to fundraise..." I totally thought I would just step in, raise all this money for the ministry with my administrative skills, and we would move forward.
After the first month of my "fab" admin. skills, we not only failed to gain any new donors, but we actually lost the support of someone who had been supporting the ministry for years.
Needless to say, it was a good reminder that it is not, nor will it ever be, my skills that make the difference. From the start, way before I was around, this ministry has been miraculously sustained by ways only God can orchestrate. And I could not feel more humbled to be a witness in His work here.
We have made it by, very literally, month by month this entire year - only enough to sustain one teacher with a
So we started praying and dreaming big. We created a "dream" budget that included a second teacher so that we can invite more kids, someone to not only clean the building, but do it on a regular basis, monthly funds for school supplies and soccer balls, and even dreamed about field trips we could plan and other events throughout the year.
In December, we still didn't have the funds to hire another teacher, (let alone reach our minimal monthly needs,) but we felt like God was saying start looking anyway, because it's going to come in.
And then we received commitments for MONTHLY support from some of our Chilean churches here.
And we were invited to make our first presentation at a local business to ask for donations.
And we were told that our coffee fundraiser in the States is projected to raise $8,000 for House of Hope.
And then, as if all of that weren't enough, we received a $10,000 donation just before the New Year, given specifically so that we can hire a second teacher...
What all of that totals up to is approximately $20,000... divided by 10 months = $2,000 a month... which is exactly what our "dream" budget requests!
God shows up in both the dream months and the meager.
God is good, all the time.
But this is just unreal to me.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to work alongside of You in this ministry. Thank you for helping us to dream big so that You can be even more glorified. Thank you for sustaining this ministry by uniting people in ways we could never do on our own. Thank you for your grace, your provision, and your great, great love for us....
No comments:
Post a Comment