This may not be classy....but you gotta hear it

I usually don’t like to blog about money. Part of me doesn’t feel like it’s classy, and the other part doesn’t want people to think I’m asking for it. I know we’re a non-profit and that right now we make a living asking for support, but I don’t believe that I’ve ever asked a person for support. I ask God, the living God, who moves in hearts and minds and whispers to His children to give to His purpose. 

I ask God for churches and people to speak to, not because I want to share about what we are doing and be blessed by them; but because I believe that God is doing something so beautiful, full of glory, impossible, and kingdom bringing - right here in Uganda - that it will bless people to hear what the Living God has done. 

I say all of this to say, money has been tight lately. Our family stops for one. If God says stop, we stop. If God says give, we give. God rarely calls us to do what is within our bank account to do - but He always provides. 

I can’t challenge God when money is tight  and He says bring someone home, whether that’s a street kid who needs to break an addiction or someone who needs somewhere to crash for a few days, even on days where I feel like counting out every grain of rice we are about to cook.  

We’ve had a lot of medical situations the past couple of weeks within the school and slum, and from a couple street kids popping in for dinner and a few nights as they try to recover from illness and injury. 

The medical budget had dwindled down to nothing, when one of our very own kids fell this weekend and broke and dislocated his ankle, needing a 4 day hospital stay and expensive surgery. We didn’t find out how expensive until Monday, the day of the surgery. The doctor told us the price of the surgery and that 50% had to be paid up front and 50% directly after surgery. The number made our eyebrows shoot up, and we prayed and asked the doctor if he would do a payment plan for us. He said yes. The nurse later told us that this doctor had only ever done this once before. We had until July 20th to pay off the surgery. 

That night we had an e-mail from a sweet friend back home who was going to ask her family to help pay for the surgery. We told her the amount that we needed and went to bed thankful for her and her family. Tuesday when we tried to get him discharged, we found out there was another bill. It was bigger than the first one! This one was for the hospital stay, nurse care, meals, injections, etc...and he couldn’t leave until we paid this bill in full! 

We prayed and then we bent over backwards trying to pull this money from places so that the bill didn’t continue to increase. We were able to get him discharged, and went home that night. 

There can’t be any bitterness there. There can’t be any “God, you called us to help those other children and we CHOSE to help them and now the one that we NEED to help we can’t!” He asks for trust. He asks for us to see the way that He sees them. He doesn’t want us to look at our present circumstances and consider them a burden or a horrible place to be, but to consider them GRACE! He gives grace! 

God loves all of those children, and He would not say do something that He wasn’t going to provide for. This morning the leaders sat down for a meeting and we prayed that we would continue to trust God and we committed the surgery bill and the hospital bill to God. 

This afternoon, waiting in our bank account was the money from our friend and her family that we needed to cover the surgery AS WELL AS the exact amount that we bent over backwards scrounging up to pay the hospital bill from an online donor. 

I screamed BOOYAH for Jesus and then as I began to thank Him, I got a text from Katie that she’s going to be late for dinner because she’s taking a little girl to the hospital...that’s not a joke. 

There are countless stories within our ministry like this one; that have shaped, refined, and sharpened my faith. I pray it does the same to yours today.