So now wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us, knowing that God always keeps his promises! Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. Hebrews 10:23-24 TPT
HEALED
Last year, at this exact moment, I was in the ER in extreme neck pain. It was the first of MANY many medical appointments I would have, unknowingly. A few days before this event, I was on my daily prayer walk at 5:30am. Thanking God for his goodness that we FINALLY were done with all stress of adoption stuff and things were finally starting to open up from being closed from COVID. I remember thanking God for helping me stay strong in it all. Then, I heard Him say, “The trials are not over yet. Can you stay strong? I’ll be with you.” I HAD NO IDEA what that was all about. I didn’t want to know honestly. But I said “YES”. Then, I forgot all about that conversation with the Lord (mostly because I didn’t want it to be true), but also because I was so expectant of what the year to come would look like as we finally closed the long adoption process with our sweet boy. As I sit here today on the 1 year of when this really hard year happened, I can see SO MANY of the promises that God made to me completed and all I can say is THANK YOU! The promise that He was with me through it all, that He would provide for us, move mountains, make us a family, take away my fears, and doing a miracle in me-healing me. This picture was taken 3 days ago at the top of a mountain that I was unsure I would ever be able to climb again. As I sit here today reflecting on this really hard year, I can surely tell you that I have never seen a more present and loving God in my life and I would not take a single moment away from it all.
I want to share with you another promise that God gave me 10 years ago. One that continues to grow in fruit. One that exceeds my original vision because really, God is the designer of this vision and His ways are always better than mine. Now, it has grown into OUR vision. Ours meaning, Clever, myself, and the local church. WOW….
As you know we have been intentionally expanding our ability to receive people with disabilities in the church. First in the area of children’s ministry for the past 7 years. Now, we have volunteer support and identified need in 5 ministries in the church! Our vision and goal is big! We don’t only want to have a church that just includes people with disabilities. We want to change the culture completely to have an inclusive attitude and heart in all areas of the church. Will you pray for the church to receive this with open arms. Will you pray for more volunteers to catch the vision and run alongside us with this?
To date here are some facts for you.
Kids Ministry: receives an average of 20 children with various disabilities in 2 in person church campuses and 1 online campus. Our goal is to help children integrate with their same age peers with support, and also provide a safe/adapted space for those who need extra support to successfully participate in the Sunday School class. See pics below. We adapt the curriculum that the rest of the age groups are learning so that it is easier for each child to learn about Jesus.
Youth Ministry-GETUP: Receives an average of 6 teens with disabilities every Saturday. See 2 pictures below of our most recent services!
College Ministry-CENTRAL: Currently has 3 people in person and 2 small groups online with young adults with disabilities participating. See the last picture in the bottom right. This is a group of college aged students in a “small group” outing, who understand what it like to to truly receive and include.
Young Professionals Ministry-PUNTO: Receives 4 young adults in person and has a small group online with others as well.
Families Ministry: Has 4 active small groups with 15 families led by parents with kids with disabilites. The small groups are designed for families with children with disabilities and are a curriculum based small group.
Can I share with you ANOTHER promise of provision that God has provided through all of you? Remember a few months ago, we sent out a request of a need for a private entrance/exit for our Kids Sunday school room/therapy room? Well, ask and you shall receive!!!! Thanks to the generosity of all of you, we finally have the door installed and working! It was incredible to be able to receive families calmly and without worrying about sharing the space with all the babies who were in the room next door. Below are some pictures of the work in progress…They will put the final touches on the outside and inside walls this week! Thank YOU ALL so so much for your generosity to make this a reality. We are so very grateful.
Of course as you all know, we continue to serve people with disabilities in the community by giving the gift of mobility through Free Wheelchair Mission. Last week we FINALLY received our first container of wheelchairs since before the pandemic!!!! We are so grateful for this container because many have been waiting on their wheelchair. This past weekend, our niece Cassidy came for a visit and we were able to participate together, building and giving out some wheelchairs to a few kids. Check out the pictures below.
Last but not least, a quick update on us personally. All 3 of us have celebrated another year of life. We are grateful for how we were able to celebrate our birthdays each one of us individually in the way we liked. Of course the biggest celebration was Kaleb’s. On his 6th birthday we invited his entire Kindergarten class plus church friends to participate in a soccer/lego party in the park with his entire class!!!
As we close this update, we want to thank all of you. For your prayers and support financially. We know that all this fruit that we are seeing is because you believe in what we are doing and are helping us to keep moving forward. We pray that in these last 2 months of 2022 you feel God’s presence and love in your lives. We pray that you too see the goodness of His promises kept and know that if you are still waiting, that HE is always faithful.
We appreciate your prayers as we close this year out. Like many, the holiday rush can feel overwhelming at times. We pray that we can close this year with the celebration of our Jesus at the center, and peace in our hearts knowing that next year will be even more fruitful than this past year.
The Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-25