Friday, September 26, 2008

Fish and Bread

I am new to this blogging thing, and with a crazy schedule, I'm not sure how much time I will get to spend here. But I wanted to write about my last few weeks and how I have witnessed a huge miracle of God.
Our family moved to Massachusetts about a month ago, leaving friends and a wonderful life in Richmond, VA. We have "hit the ground running", because the 5 colleges/universities started soon after we moved. I am homeschooling this year, so I have been trying to organize myself. Those of you who know me, know that organization is not a strength of mine, hahaha!!!!! So, life has been a little crazy. Good, but crazy.
Almost 2 weeks ago, we received word that one of our students was killed in an accident in Richmond. We loaded up the van and drove 10 hours back to Richmond, so Ryan could perform the funeral and minister to this wonderful family. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go back to Richmond. I knew that it would be hard for the girls, hard for me. We had only been gone a month, and we miss our friends!!! We arrived and spent many hours with this amazing Kenyan family, visiting our friends, and preparing to mourn this wonderful, amazing man of God. Barnabas was such an incredible, encouraging young man who loved Jesus and followed him with his whole heart. His mother and family also love Jesus. I sat with Ms. Rose as she looked at a huge bill of $18,000-20,000. No insurance, single mom, seemingly hopeless task of acquiring this amount of money. BUT, our God is a gracious and giving God and I watched before my eyes as He multiplied the money to give to this family. I have often wondered how Jesus fed the 5,000 people and how he multiplied the food. I know He can do it, I just wonder what it looked like. Last Saturday, I think God gave me a picture of this miracle reinacted. I saw a family that had gathered $2750.00 by 5:00pm on Saturday, and when I left the house at 10:30 that same night, the number was up to $11,400. I counted the money, all of it!!! I held it in my hands as it came in from friends, other Kenyans, work places, a church and fellow believers. I watched God perform a miracle. I left amazed at how God worked on behalf of this family. BUT God wasn't finished. The next morning, the numbers were up to over $18,000 and by Tuesday of this week, Rose had $23,000. I saw community like I've not seen before, coming together to provide for a need. In a small way, I became Kenyan that night as I helped with the fundraiser. I was overwhelmed at the provision that God gave and allowed me to be a part of.
Money is a difficult issue for me, knowing that God will provide for our needs, especially right now. God, in His loving mercy and kindness, allowed me to be a part of this experience to show me how He can multiply something from very little!!!!! He takes our faith, our small offerings, our dreams, our possibilities, and multiplies them beyond our imaginations.
So now, as I look at our immediate future, I am thankful for this visual representation of my God's goodness and provision.
Thanks for allowing me to share with you. Hopefully I will learn to post pics of the girls and share about their work with school, extra curricular activities, etc. But for now, I just want to leave you with this: our God knows our needs and He is more than able to provide above and beyond what we think or imagine.