I messed up. Nothing
new.
At the end of the year, it is common for missionaries to
remind supporters that their ministry would be happy to receive a Year-End
Donation! I forgot to do this.
Actually, I did remember…
On December 30th I realized I should send a
year-end plea. Oops. Obviously, it was too late now.
“No bother” I tell Michelle, “we’ll PRAY IT IN! The famous missionary, George Muller never
asked for money but just prayed. The
Brooklyn Tabernacle started with miraculous stories of God’s provision. We could be like them!”
So I set to praying.
I decide that I should pray about a specific amount. Our current support is in good shape and we
don’t have any immediate need to direct me as to a figure. Nevertheless, the amount should be big enough
that it could only be the work of the Lord and not just an incidental
donation. Three thousand dollars. Yes, $3,000 in Year-End Donations with
absolutely no requests to individuals could only come from God.
I prayed about this figure multiple times per day, every
day…for about a week. That is when I
calculated that year-end donations would have been received in our home office,
processed and posted. So, I checked our
support account…no year-end donations.
Well, maybe with the holidays it is taking a little extra time to
process. So I prayed some more, but less
fervently. Several days later I checked
our account again…no year-end donations.
Oh well, I’ll be sure to send a reminder to supporters next year. Then I quit praying. Oops.
A week later, I was reviewing some budget info and noticed a
large donation. Wow, what a generous
gift! Hey wait, here’s another year-end
gift from someone we haven’t talked to in a couple of years! Oh, and a couple of our regular supports have
given additional donations! What do all
of these year-end donations add up to?
$3,048.
This mission work thing is truly God’s work. We are simply blessed with the opportunity to
be a part of it. We mess things up. Good comes out of it. God gets all the glory!
God’s provision through the generosity of others allows us
to receive the language training we need and will fund our ministry and church
planting efforts in Honduras.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock,
and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who
seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread,
will give him a stone? Or
if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to
those who ask him! Matthew 7:7-11
