2013 – August

Loving and Giving

It’s your testimony and my testimony.  In fact, it’s the testimony of the entire human race:  God did not withhold His most precious, because He saw we had a need.  (Let that truth sink in for a moment) 

He saw we had a need.  He gave what was most precious in order to meet our need.  For God so loved…that He gave.

Last month we mentioned that the children in Peru were in need and that we did not have enough money to meet the need.  We asked you to pray and to respond, and we are very grateful that you did.  Many of you prayed; some of you felt able to give sacrificially to meet their need.  The Lord took all of it and provided what was needed, and we are thankful for the part you played.  Sometimes we think our gift is too small to offer to God, our role too unimportant to play.  Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”  Whatever you can send to help us feed these children each month, whether it seems large to you or not, I tell you it matters.  The prayers you pray for them (and for us!) matter, too.  Jesus takes it all and uses it all.  We demonstrate God’s love for others and our love for God in these simple ways.  Because we love, we then give…whatever we can, wherever we can, whenever we can.

Many of you have prayed for our family during these months that we have experienced great loss.  We are very blessed to have you as partners with us!  No matter what storm we face, God is still there with us, taking us through.  He truly does give grace to us when we totally depend on Him, and through it all we understand with more fullness the words of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (NKJV)

Because of your increase in giving, we are now able to plan our next trip to Peru and we are very grateful to have secured tickets at a far more reasonable price than what has recently been available.  The ticket expenses have been extreme this summer.  Our focus this month is to send all funds necessary to supply every need that they have, and to continue steadfast in prayer for them until our next arrival.   The children are well and very grateful for the food and supplies that were provided during July.

In closing, I urge you to consider again God’s love.  He loves people.  He loves the rich and the beautiful, and He loves poor and the dirty.  He loves the capable, and the helpless, the unloved, the forgotten, and the one that you and I struggle to love.  He loves YOU.  He doesn’t love us because we deserve it or could earn it; He loves us because HE IS LOVE.  He is the lover of your soul.  Lean on Him today and fall in love with Him like never before.

Carried by His Grace,

Tony and Rosa Rivera

Homes of Refuge, International