Being taken care of

Giving to others is great. Jesus spoke truth when he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. And yet there are many times that we need to learn to accept help. How else will we be able to accept the amazing grace that God offers us. If we are always trying to pay things back, or feeling ashamed of receiving help because we feel we should do it on our own, then we cannot experience forgiveness or grace or how good it is to be part of a loving, helpful family. 

This is something that I remember learning long ago from the first Christians I came to know - my best friend and his family and friends. Pizza every week or so with the youth group sounded great, but I didn’t want to be beholden. My best friend’s father let me know: “This is what we are doing now for you. Later you will do this for others. We do it because God has done it for us. We just want to be like Him.” 

This past month our car needed plenty of TLC (and then some!). And we all know that car care come at a price. Thankfully, we are well cared for because of so many of you who support us, making it possible for us to be sharing God’s good news here. And we use our car an awful lot. This was something that our church family here also understood. They have either been a recipient of us traveling to them, or have seen how we use what God has blessed us with. 

Every 5th Sunday the congregation in Maastricht holds a special contribution. This is in addition to our regular giving. The members can share a need that we can all decide to contribute to, according to our own desire and ability to help, One of the members put us own the list. We were surprised by this attention and even more by how much was given to help us out. It is amazing to be a part the body of Christ! These brothers and sisters give from the heart. 

Those many years ago I learned that the best thing about walking with God is how thankful we can be. He blesses so immensely. He does that through what He has given - true grace and forgiveness and love and peace - as well as through His body, our brothers and sisters. We are indeed so thankful for all of you who continue to support us in prayer and encouragement and financially, making it possible for us to be here. Our trip to the US this past month was also an example of this giving love. And we are so thankful for the group of people we are working with here who also know this wonderful truth of the joy of giving. 

(That is our car back in 2018 when Stephan and Natalie came to visit).