When Things Change
I want to start out by saying thank you to everyone who attended, donated, and helped plan our Annual Dinner Celebration and Fundraiser. It was one of our most well-attended and definitely our most successful Annual Fundraiser to date...Thank you for everything that you did to make it so.
Over the past few years, the ministry of All Things New has changed dramatically, and change can be a very scary and difficult thing to navigate. The truth is that change is necessary for any organization and ministry, but the type of change that has occurred for everyone over the past 2 years is unprecedented.
Change is hard. Natural and systematic change is difficult enough, but sudden and unforeseeable change takes those difficulties to a much different level. The truth is, I had a lot of plans and ideas of things that I have wanted to do with and for our kids over the past 3 years...Those things have not happened.
In recent ATN planning and board meetings, we have said things like "For the past 3 years things have stayed the same for our kids and employees and that is the same as taking 10 giant steps forward." The kids have eaten 3 meals per day, done well in school, and are growing spiritually; our employees have been paid on time each month and have not had to miss many days due to unrest or COVID at all.
What a sad statement to have to make.
But in the midst of all that is going on, GOD has shown up powerfully. This is not a time for me to speak about why GOD is blessing ATN while much of the rest of the country struggles, but it is a time for me to thank Him for those blessings.
When things change, and they have, it can either be really easy to see the Hand of GOD or very easy to forget about Him completely. My challenge to you and to myself is to look. GOD is still with us and He is still in complete and total control of everything.
The Hand of GOD is clear and evident in the ministry of All Things New. He has raised up leaders, shown our kids that He will be there for them even when we cannot, and has allowed our Haitian employees to step up to the plate and deliver...Which they have done.
In my flesh, I am sad. I have not seen our kids in such a long time and I have not been able to work on some of the initiatives that have been so important to me. But one thing that GOD has shown me is that He is there and He always will be for me, His son...You are His children too...Our kids and employees in Haiti are His children as well.
In the words of David Crowder: "You make everything glorious...And I am Yours...What does that make me?"