Our prayer for our first session of Embrace Grace was to join God in His will and watch Him accomplish a God-sized assignment. Our Church not only got to experience God radically but it also was shaped and molded into God's heart of loving the broken, the hurt, those in need, and the mothers and their babies. We have learned that our God is a providing Father who cares about the smallest of details (like which pattern to buy for a baby swaddle.) This blog is to document our spiritual markers so that we can reflect, rejoice, praise, and worship our Heavenly Father.
Spiritual Marker #1: God provides the volunteers
Kelly contacted us about Embrace Grace before we even had girls signed up. She had heard about Embrace Grace and was waiting and praying for a Church to start doing the ministry. So when Bulverde Chapel was placed on Embrace Grace's website she contacted us immediately ready to serve. Kelly was a God send. She not only served every week, but she took the most gorgeous maternity photos. Without God bringing Kelly, I don't think we would have been able to make it through our first session.
Spiritual Marker #2: God provides the girls
We had three girls sign up for our first session. I don't know how they found us but thankfully they did. God brought each girl exactly when He needed them there. As I write this blog post, all three girls have given birth to their babies and are healthy and enjoying motherhood.
Spiritual Marker #3: God chooses the gifts
For me personally, this was the most defining moment of trusting God throughout our first session of Embrace Grace. Our leaders made a registry list of baby supplies. And before I could send it out to our Church, God asked me a very simple question: "Who made this list?" Quickly our prayer changed from "God will you provide these gifts?" to "God will you go shopping with us and choose the gifts you want?" I realized I was treating God more like a genie and less like the our Heavenly Father. This change propelled praying for the actual provision of the gifts; God chose the gifts, of course He would provide them.
Spiritual Marker #4: God provides money and gifts
God brought Kelly; God brought the three women. And now it was time for God to provide their needs as well. As a small Church we couldn't dream of providing all that these girls needed. But we knew if we brought these requests to God that he would answer our prayers and provide. The first Sunday I asked the Church to pray, I had a young gentleman open his wallet and say "I found this cash yesterday in my wallet and I didn't know what it was to be used for until now" and hand me all of his cash. I was blown away. The second Sunday I had the Church pray again and later that week I had $100 in my mailbox from El Paso, Tx for Embrace Grace. Again, I was left speechless. The third Sunday I again told the Church to pray, and 15 minutes later I had a bank notification that someone sent the Church another $100 from a different city for Embrace Grace. (God was getting quicker at answering our requests.) The fourth week I had an older woman empty her purse and ask that we love these women with it. The fifth week I had boxes and boxes of new gifts stacking in my garage. Watching God's provision pour in this way reminds me of the manna in the wilderness. He provided exactly what we needed and when we needed it.
When I write out the spiritual markers where God has moved, it brings me into worship. This has permanently shaped my relationship with God and has permanently shaped how I will do ministry in the future. Watching God provide is the most exciting and thrilling experience in our world. I can't wait for His next invitation to join Him in accomplishing His will.