Faith

God has truly worked in Amazing ways in each of our lives and in the life of the church.  For two thousand years Christ has been working through his bride the church to expand his Kingdom.  Our history is full of miracles, mistakes, saints, leaders, false teachers, new movements, periods of decline and times of great revival.  Through all of this His Kingdom has moved forward with the force of the rising tide. We always face challenges from within and without and as fallible people, we strive to follow Him as best we can.  Today we face challenges that seem to us unique and unforeseen, but in reality, every generation has seen those challenges.

And yet the Kingdom of God moves forward.

I think one of our greatest mistakes is in not reflecting on the greatness of our God.  We are so busy looking at the “threats” to our faith that we forget to praise him for all that he has done.  For anyone who keeps a daily journal, or even a written list of prayer requests, all you need to do is take a look back.  Look at everything He has brought you through.  Years ago, I worked with high school students at our church. I met with a group of young men whose lives were full of the typical issues high school students face. Tests, peer pressure, alcohol, girls, church and sports.  We met and prayed together every week for almost two years.  At the end of our time together, I pulled out our old list of prayer requests from when we’d first started meeting.  We shared some good laughs over some of the things that had caused so much stress and pain at the time. And then one of the young men vocalized what many of us were thinking:

“Isn’t it amazing how God has worked?”

Twenty months ago, after our team had returned from Ghana on our church building trip, we met  to discuss the possibility of building a new orphanage for the Love and Care Foundation.  It had taken nearly fourteen thousand dollars to build the church and an orphanage with electricity and running water would take much more.  We had no funds.  Still, we moved forward and asked Ebenezer to begin looking for land on which to build the orphanage.

I still remember being pulled aside by a board member after one of our meetings and he shared with me the reality of what this project would cost. He was right, it was daunting. We had no idea where the money would come from or even what it would cost.

Four months later an anonymous donation of $100,000 was given to our ministry. There were no instructions as to how it was to be used or why it was given. It was just for us. We had an idea of how to use it…

The last twelve months have been full of activity.  Two teams have travelled to Ghana, work has been done, conferences have been held, and we’ve celebrated three years of ministry. We have been so busy that we haven’t taken the time to look back. 

I’ve had time now.  We’ve looked at the books.

And that orphanage that seemed so daunting is nearly complete.

And what was the cost?….About $100,000.

I have learned so much in being a part of this ministry. When we are called, we need to follow.

He’ll work out the details and bring us through.

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20