**(starting off with a note of praise) Last week I received an email from our warrior leader in Zimbabwe giving us reason to rejoice. It is such a sweet experience to get to rejoice from time to time although the daily struggles are still very present. BFGO funded the maize crop. You might recall that we provided funds to purchase seed and fertilizer, and to hire additional help to plant the crops, last August. The crop was harvested a couple of weeks ago and it has been determined that there is enough to feed the orphanages for a year (Sudza - their staple food) with a little left over to sell. Praise Jesus! The amount left over to sell isn't much, but "every little bit helps"... the mantra we will never stop repeating! So, please rejoice with us! Planting and praying has yielded a sufficient harvest. Amen to that!
I have been moved this morning in my quiet time to think about this word, "yield". This word often causes me a great deal of stress. 14 or so years ago I entered the sector of financial services. I served in retirement planning, wealth management and trust administration. It was all about "yield". Everyone wanted a hefty return on their investment, a strong yield. Of course, we all want that, even in ways that have nothing to do with finances. I want to yield children with strong character. We want to yield praise and recognition for the work we do. At the core of each of us, we want to yield something. And then we want more.
My pastor, Pete Wilson, of Cross Point Church has been leading us through a series based on his new book "Empty Promises". I'm halfway through the book so far and loving it. Pete addresses that we continually fall for the lie that something earthly will fulfill us when in fact, only God can fulfill us and give us our needs and even satisfy our wants. I'm beginning to look at it this way, in this life we will only be satisfied with what we "yield" in Christ, through His Spirit. In Christ we yield hope, peace, joy, love and all other "fruits of the Spirit". There is no greater return than what the Spirit produces in us and through us for the harvest of His Kingdom.
So, where does this leave BFGO? As the leader of this organization there is much that I want to see yielded through our sacrificial efforts. I want to be able to testify to more food, more school fees, more hearts of orphans surrendered to Christ, more encouragement to our Orphanage Director in Zim, more awareness about orphans who are not up for adoption, more support for missionaries, more gifts of adoption grants given to those on the adoption journey... more for them. More. For them.
This week I was traveling on an interstate that is under construction. I was shocked to have to learn in the moment, without warning, that the "on ramp" had been shifted considerably and it no longer "merged" into the traffic. (Major death trap in my opinion!!) I was on this on-ramp and had to slam on my brakes and completely "yield" to the traffic instead. In this case I had to come to a dead stop and wait until a considerable window of visibility opened up for me to sneak into the pack. When the opportunity came up for me, since I was starting from 0 (mph) I had to gun it, just for my survival and for those around me. I feel like that is where we are with BFGO. We have been so blessed to reach our peer group in a grass roots effort, but unless we gun it now, we are probably going to die. Why? Because the Zim orphanages need about double our current support just to stay afloat, and we believe that God has called us to do that. We believe that He is using BFGO for this provision from Him. We have to ramp it up. He is looking for our faith, hope and obedience to increase so that He can yield a return of abundance, for His glory.
Could you help us gun it? We are currently raising about $25,000 per year for the Zim kiddos and we need to raise $50,000 just for them. Just to cover their basic needs ranging from school fees, food, house rentals, staff salaries, clinic visits, crop expenses, the chicken project, the peanut butter project, etc. If you join with BFGO as a monthly partner and share about our ministry, it will happen. You can set your monthly giving at any amount you choose. Will you blog about us, tweet us, like us on facebook, share us with your "in real life" networks? This is the point at which God has indicated that we reach out further, that we proclaim His precious name louder, that we yield to Him and yield in His name. We will. Will you?
Donations can be set up at www.beautifulfeetgo.org. And please consider buying a copy of "Empty Promises" by Pete Wilson by using our BFGO Lambshops site. To make the purchase, click HERE and then search Barnes & Noble. From there, search "Pete Wilson" where you can also pick up a copy of his first book, "Plan B". By the way, the Empty Promises series at Cross Point has been awesome. You can find and listen to the services here. **Every purchase made through our Lambshops site earns free money for BFGO. You can go through us for all of your shopping needs.
God bless! As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
In Christ,
Melissa Irwin
Executive Director
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