Gifts of Grace

Today we had a missions event at my church (Edenton Street UMC) called Gifts of Grace. It is an awesome thing that Renae (our missions coordinator) and her team have done for the past three years where different ministries and non-profits can come and tell their stories and then people can give Christmas donations to one of their choosing in honor of someone as gift! My grandparents have done this in their community every year and it is always one of my favorite presents to get that card that says "a child will have shoes this year in honor of my love for you"!! It's a gift and an idea that sticks with me long after the other presents have lost their shine!

I was invited to be a part of Gifts of Grace this year and it was such an incredible experience! First of all, being in the room with people around Raleigh who have such a vision for what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ in our world is humbling and encouraging!! Then also getting to talk to people I have grown up with and share the story God has written in my life for this season is such a gift. There is nothing more encouraging to me than to be able to share the story of what God is doing in Eleuthera with someone and have their face light up and them get excited about what is happening the same way I do!! For our table this morning, Martha Roberts put together gift cards that people could give for gifts for the holidays and we have plenty so if that is something you would be interested in, send me an email and I will get some of the cards to you!

On a similar note, I am finding that, though the processing of fundraising can be trying at times, the blessings that come out of it are absolutely beyond worth it: Today I came out of this event and opened an envelope from a friend that has helped me through this fundraising process and immediately dissolved into tears. It was an extremely generous donation, which was overwhelming in itself, but even more so because I know it was a gift of sacrifice from this friend because he believes in God's vision for this place and He feels called to be a part of it!

It's in those moments that I know that God has a far bigger plan than I could ever imagine for this island and it stretches way beyond what I, Sarah, can do. This is a picture of the body of Christ and what it looks like to walk into His will together, some being on the island, some being prayer warriors for the kids, and some giving sacrificially to make it possible. All parts are necessary and my friend's gift was a amazing reminder that we aren't doing this alone!!