“Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4)
I love this story because it proves God isn’t interested in how big your offering is; He wants your heart. The widow had faith and total trust in God. Not only was she poor, but she was also a widow and probably didn’t have a lot of options. She gave everything she had, which wasn’t much, but because she surrendered total trust in God, she honored Him.
Earlier this month, God gave me the opportunity to watch a group of Malawian widows give to God what others may consider to be “not enough,” and then He quickly gave me the opportunity to offer Him what I was tempted to consider “not enough.”
On July 4th, we walked for 30 minutes through a local village surrounded by dozens of adorable local children in the slum fighting to hold our hands and chanting, “Azungu! Azungu! Azungu!” (“Azungu” is a non-derogatory term meaning “White people.”) They even called my team leader, who’s an African American, “azungu.”
We were taken to a room filled with a group of widows. I was so excited to minister to widows. Life for a widow in Malawi is incredibly hard. Girls are not encouraged to get an education and are told to depend upon finding a husband to support themselves. Therefore, women are often not trained and skilled to work and survive without the presence of a man. So, a woman who has lost her husband is not left with a lot of options. On top of that, widows are often automatically considered low-class “riff-raff.”
Despite these things, when we entered the room to minister to these ladies, we didn’t find a group of sad and dejected widows, we found a group of smiling, dancing, stomping, clapping, and singing ladies who are in love with their Jesus! I was speechless. For the next hour, my team and 15 widows danced and sang for Jesus. The hope that poured from these women filled the room overwhelmed me. I had gone there to minister to them, but instead, they ministered to me.
These ladies are not able to offer a fortune to Christ; several of them wore shoes made of plastic with holes in them, others wore dirty clothes filled with holes, and when many of them smiled, you could see many of them had rotten teeth. But these ladies were willing to give God what they had: their worship and their faith… which only brought Him honor.
Then the unexpected happened.
Our ministry host told us we were expected to share two testimonies and a sermon with the ladies. Since it was technically my turn to preach, I volunteered, but I must have looked like a deer in headlights. We had no idea we were sharing that day, so stepping up to preach for the first time in my life unprepared was very daunting. I sat down and the Enemy attacked. I thought about the amazing teachers and preachers I’ve seen in my life and felt the pressure of “What if I can’t do this?”… “What if the sermon I have to preach is pure garbage?” …
“What if what I have to offer isn’t enough?”
Then it hit me.
The Bible says, “For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” (Colossians 2:9-10)
The reason why these teachers and preachers I admire are able to reduce me to a puddle when the preach is because they are filled with the Spirit, and if the same Spirit that dwells in them dwells in me, then God will certainly be pleased with and multiply the offering I have for Him. God isn’t interested if I’m a good preacher. He just wants my heart and willingness to serve Him.
So, I stood and preached with all my heart from Galatians 6: 7-9. And God showed up. I could feel His power and presence in my heart as I did my best encourage everyone to “not grow weary in doing good.” God put many things of my heart that I wasn’t planning on sharing, but they resonated with everyone. I could feel Him speaking through me to encourage the widows, my team, and myself. The message was for me, too.
God is continually so good to me. He takes what I have to offer and he multiples it and He’s pleased with it. Just like He was pleased with the widow’s offering in Luke 21, He was honored by the widow’s worship offering and my teaching offering.
Don’t be hesitant to offer God all that you can. He will be honored by it.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE!
Thanks to your prayers and financial support, I am currently only $2,300 away from being fully-funded!
Thank you for all your love and support!
