Great Things

“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Psalm 126:3

Finishing a ministry project is always an emotional roller coaster. There is a tremendous high in the coming together to achieve an amazing task, but there is the inevitable wrestling with the things we wish went better.

There is a tension that is constant–putting volunteers in pressure bound situations that feel like failures on our part–but seeing that in those moments character is stretched and capacity is grown. God works in lives as imperfection reigns.  Once again we made new friends and relied heavily on old, faithful volunteers. It is fractured at times, but it is beautiful always.

This particular project my heart was wrecked by a reality I have been somewhat aware of before, but never crushed by ’til now. The fact is this: Many, many people pour out their hearts on the site of a project then go home to far less in material blessings than the project recipients have BEFORE we show up. 

Sure, there have been many times when the finished product is nicer than my home. Master bedrooms that are breathtaking, kitchens with beautiful granite, details organized in ways that become “wishes”  for my house. My daughter has asked before, “Why don’t we do a Brighten A Corner project here?” But I know I have so much.

Too much.

Painting walls, organizing toys and clothes, doing what we do allows us the chance to talk to others. We are privileged to learn the stories of men and women who are serving, and some of those stories are their own kind of heartbreaking. Yet the people serve anyway.

It is our most sincere desire that God blesses that. We believe that when you step out to give to others, you get so much more.  Not because God owes us, but because He loves us. Living for ourselves is just too small a life.

I often say that God didn’t need Noah to build the ark, Moses to part the Red Sea, or David to kill Goliath. He allows His people to join Him in His work because He loves us, wants to grow us, and desires for us to have a big life in Him.

I battle with wanting to do things better, but I rejoice in knowing that doing something for the hurting and overwhelmed is so much better than doing nothing. Zero is  a perfect circle.

We refuse to be paralyzed by perfection.

That doesn’t mean, however, that we won’t continue to improve…