Let go and let God


A lot of people have been asking about the free daycare/preschool/after school/ computer and English classes/ library/?. So I have decided to blog a letter I wrote when someone requested information.

God has taken the last couple of months to slow me down and to let me see what he wants. He has shown me to look with my heart and not only my eyes. To let go of my plans and to embrace his. So I let go, and God has taken over (as it rightly should be). Be prepared to be amazed by an amazing God when you finally let go. I know I have been. Less of me and more of him.

If you have already read the letter feel free to just enjoy some photos of children whose lives you are changing, and skip to the last couple of paragraphs.

Once again my heartstrings are being pulled. Do you know what I am talking about? That feeling inside of you that doesn’t ever go away, the way your attention repeatedly goes back to something, where everything you see is a reminder of that nagging feeling. I think that is a spirit thing. That tugging of your mind, heart and soul. It is really hard to explain. I just know that when something is pressing on my heart and mind that I had better take notice, that there is something I need to be paying attention to.

In this case it is the need for a safe place for children to go. This started out with a vision of a no cost daycare center for the children of Mololoa. I can not tell you what it does to me to see a young child standing in the road sobbing. The little guy is crying so hard he can only gulp air in, his little face is wet with tears, standing half dressed, barefooted in the middle of a dirt road, crying. His mother has left him alone. My first though was, What?! How could she? The little guy can not be more than three or four years old, how dare she leave him alone, what kind of mother is she? She is the kind of mother that has no choice. She is the kind of mother that is so common here. She has to choose, stay home with the child or go to a job and make enough money to scrape by and to be able to feed the child. What a choice. No one should have to make such a choice, but they do everyday.

I have also watched an older child stand in the middle of this same road watching as his friends all head out to school while he stands there with a younger sister pulling on his hand and a baby brother on his hip. It is so sad to see the look of disappointment as he is left behind. But what choice? Leave the baby alone and go to school, or stay home and take care of the family while mom tries to sell gum on the street corner to make enough money for dinner. Once again a choice no one should have to make, but they do everyday. It is simply survival, they are not bad mothers, most are very loving and caring mothers and it breaks their hearts to leave their children alone or in the care of an older brother or sister, but when it comes down to it they have to eat and buy water or they can not live.

Well this is why my heartstrings are being tugged. I know that we can do something so that children are not crying in the streets and so that children are not missing out on the chance for a better life through education. So we need a daycare, the mothers, and the children need a daycare.

My prayers began. One prayer was answered immediately; we were able to purchase the perfect piece of land for the daycare. Prayers continued, but as we are planning this daycare another need comes to my attention. With the help of individuals and churches we have set up a scholarship program where for fifty dollars a year we can get a child into the public school system with the needed supplies (school here is not free, but that is a different subject and mission). Working with the parents and children as well as working with numerous children every Sunday I have noticed that the children are very far behind on the basic skills that you would expect any child getting ready for kindergarten to have. I have 8 year old children who can not hold a pencil, they are intimidated by being asked to make basic craft projects, and have never held a pair of scissors much less cut something out. These are all skills that our children pick up early because they are given the opportunity to develop fine motor skills such as coloring and cutting. Those opportunities are not available to young children here. So the second part of the dream came into being. A preschool, why can’t we have a daycare for the little ones and a preschool for the young ones preparing for school? Well we can do that if God is willing our heart is willing. So a daycare/preschool.

I have begun to notice lately a lot of children coming by the kitchen and asking Jennifer for home work help. They only have four hours of class per day and their parents are often not even able to write their name or read a preschool book, so there is no one to go to for help. So if we are already open and have the room why not add an after school program where kids can come to get help with their homework. Well we are already having English classes so we might as well open it up to the younger students, and you know that if the children could learn computer skills as well…………… That could change their lives. To be able to speak English and work a computer could open so many more doors to these guys.

And then my friend Jen (a teacher and librarian) said, “What about a library for the children?” Okay why not.

So our initial plans for a daycare have undergone a transformation. While I have been praying to get this daycare started and wondering when; God has been using this time to slow me down and open my eyes to other needs that can be met at the same time. My limited imagination thought A daycare, wow that is just what they need, God wanted me to imagine something far more needed. For lack of a better term for the moment a daycare/preschool/after school/English and computer class/library/? (The question mark is me not limiting God and being open to his will).

Well that about it, my heartstrings are being pulled, my spirit nudged and I know that with prayer God can and will use us to do great things in his name and for his glory.

So please everyone pray and then pray some more.
We are asking for prayer for guidance at this time. The need for the daycare/preschool/after school /English and computer class/library/? project is weighing heavily on our hearts. To see such a great need everyday can be overwhelming. We are asking that everyone pray for God's will and timing and not our own. We also are asking that the right people be brought into our lives at this time to help us with the planning stages as well as with the long term operations. We know the talents of our fellow brothers and sisters; we know that the Lord has equipped us for every good work. Planners, teachers, childcare providers, fund raisers, prayer warriors, management, leaders, builders, mothers, fathers, anyone with a heart for God's work and children we need you, the children need you.

Jesus himself will enable us to produce a harvest--not of our own strength but in his.

So there you have it, the basic outline of what we hope to accomplish with Gods help and guidance. Well as I mentioned I have thought for a while now that I was ready to go go go. However, God slowed me down and opened the eyes to my heart so that I could see the other needs of the community.

I have been just taking it easy and BAM we get a call. We have raised the money you need to get going, so get going.So all of a sudden we are up and running. We have been blessed to have gotten to know some awesome people who are able to humble themselves and ask for help for the work that we are trying to do here in the name of the Father. I know what it feels like to ask (just ask anyone I know I am always asking for help) and it is not always easy to put yourselves out there and ask for financial help. So I want to send out a special thank you to everyone who is working as hard if not harder than we are to bring this ministry of reaching out to children and providing a safe and loving environment for them to experience the physical care that all children deserve, the educational assistance that will help them to grow and accomplish so much and most of all helping to introduce them to a Father who loves them and wants them, who will never leave them, never hurt them, who will always be there in all circumstances. That is something most of these children do not have and cannot comprehend as their role model of a father is not honorable or loving.

So to all of you out there how can I say thank you? How do you thank someone for hope, love, joy, safety, a future, how do you thank someone for taking the dreams of your heart and embracing it as their own? However, I can say that while my attempts at writing down the joy that is overflowing (threatening to drown me) are quite feeble know that my prayers of thankfulness for you and all you are doing are pouring out daily.

May the Lord bless and keep all of you.