Last month I tied a few a wooden tags onto some Mason Jars and labeled each jar with a country that God will bring my team to. Posting these jars on FB, I asked my friends to “adopt-a-country,” and fill the jars up with goodies to be used for the trip. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would work through this endeavor. Yeah, He definitely worked.
Every night, I prayed that the Lord would fill these people up with the Holy Spirit and bless them. I prayed that the Lord would work in their lives and make His grace even more known. Little did I know, God was about to do these very things in me by using them. Last week, I received the jars back. These empty jars became vessels full of Grace and Love.
Stories were shared of entire dorm room halls getting involved through prayer, kind notes, and donations. Classrooms of elementary children writing hope-filled letters to my team and donating money, toys, and other valuable belongings. Creative notes of encouragement, prayer, and bible verses filled these jars. Even verses translated into the specific country’s foreign language to be shared with the locals who need to hear of God were written out. Facts and Statistics that have lit flames in my heart to burn for the people of these countries. Artistic encouragement to journal each encounter, experience, and exciting story of witnessing God’s work. Family, college students, and elementary children have become a part of this trip through their gifts. Oh, did I mention that the total amount of monetary donation was $1,120.11? I stand in awe. I fall to my knees. Tears run down my face as I taste God’s grace once again and I am lost in His beauty.
From empty jars, God displayed His Power, Grace, Love, Provision, and so much more. I praise the Lord. All glory and honor given to God. He has once again, through His children, expressed His goodness. Thank you, to all who have become part of this journey through these jars and the many other donations that have been given. I am so undeserving of such kindness, yet God is glorified once again. He has shown Himself good through the emptiness of these jars and the emptiness that was within me. There are truly magnificent wonders that can spur from emptiness. It is as this video that City Hope Church created:
Empty from City Hope Church on Vimeo.
