Glorifying Steps

As you can imagine, there are about 162,000 things on my mind, so this blog post may seem a bit discombobulated (it’s a real word… not sure what it means, but SIRI spelled it for me so I know it’s real)!

Lets start with the biggest news:
Just last week we reached 1/3 of our support-raising goal!
Thats right, $15,000 has been raised to send Rachel and I to Lesotho so far!

Can we just take a second and thank God for His faithfulness and provision!

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:26

I have always loved that passage of scripture. Too often in my life I give in to worry or I stress about the future. I become consumed with how I will accomplish a difficult task or reach an overwhelming goal.

Did you catch that?

I worry.
I stress.
I become consumed.
I will accomplish.
I must reach the goal.

If there is one thing God has been showing me all throughout this support-raising process it’s that my attempts at accomplishing the goal on my own must diminish and my faith that He will take care of everything, even the things I sometimes view as impossible, must grow.

I need to move out of the way for Him to work in incredible ways.

After all, birds seem pretty well fed, right?

Prefect example – Just yesterday the homeschool ministry at our church hosted a bake sale for Reclaimed. When Rachel and I were talking before the sale started we were estimating $250-$300 in donations… maybe $350 if people came really hungry.

We should have just moved out of the way, because 15 people donated baked goodies, all the kids worked really hard holding signs and spreading the word, there were hundreds of people visiting the bake sale tables, talking with us about Reclaimed and picking out what they wanted eat.

And guess what, in the end this little bake sale raised $830 dollars!

Thats more than double what we thought would be raised in the best (most hungry) scenario. Needless to say, Rachel and I had an absolute blast learning this lesson!

So what comes next?

Next Sunday (3/13) Jason Stoker, the Executive Director of the Reclaimed Project, will be joining us in all four services at Cool Spring. We will be showing our (soon to be completed) video from our trip to Lesotho in January, as well a sharing our hearts for why we will be moving to serve orphaned and vulnerable children in Lesotho.

This morning we will also have a station set up where you can visit us before or after the services to learn more about supporting Rachel and I both prayerfully and financially. We are so excited to be able to share with everyone and tell some of the incredible stories of the work God is doing in Lesotho!

That evening Cool Spring Baptist Church and The Reclaimed Project are hosting a Fundraiser Dinner from 5:00-7:00pm. We are so so excited to announce that 240 people have already signed up to attend!

We are going to show an incredible testimony video highlighting the first ever Orphan Care Center in Botswana, enjoy a wonderful Italian meal, hear from Jason Stoker more extensively about the mission of the Reclaimed Project, and we may even play a game together before the night is done!

Menu:
– House Salad
– Pasta with Marinara or Alfredo Sauce
– Italian Sausage or Grilled Chicken
– Dessert

If you haven’t signed up for the dinner yet but would like to attend, we are going to keep accepting RSVP’s through Wednesday evening!

To RSVP, click “going” to the Facebook event, send an email to tenglish@coolspring.org, or use the sign-up sheets around Cool Spring Baptist Church.

We would love to see you there!

So how will God work next weekend, we can’t wait to move aside and find out!

With Love,
Tyler & Rachel