Not the update I was expecting …

This is not the update I was expecting to send this month. (And I’m just writing rather than recording it this time).

September is the time of year that the Fusion Jamaica team does our annual back to school outreach. The costs of education are tough for inner-city families, and we know so many families that are struggling this year. So the book vouchers we give out are a real blessing to the 100 or more families we aim to help in this way.

I was going to write back at the start of the month, and share about that need. I would have mentioned how much of the budget we already had, and asked for your partnership in prayer and for you to consider giving to help bridge the gap between that and what was still needed.

I would have sent that e-mail a few weeks ago … but the day I was going to write it I was heading to a prayer meeting, and happened to check my emails while walking in. An e-mail had come in from one of the generous people who support the ministry, who knew that September was back to school time, saying that they had sent a donation. What they had sent brought our total up to more than what was needed.

Two days earlier, a particular verse had been speaking deeply to me, and I have been reminding myself to be more consistent in doing what it says ever since. That day, Shaboo (one of our leaders) messaged me from Jamaica, so I shared that verse with him in a voice message. He responded with an excited message because he had underlined the same verse only a few minutes before I sent my message, knowing that it was a very important verse for him to be more consistent in this season. I then opened my Bible to that passage in the prayer meeting, but before I got to pray through it, another person in the meeting prayed the exact same verse.

If you’re wondering what is says; “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)  

The Apostle Paul, who wrote those words, also describes God as “him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20)

So instead of writing this update to share a need, to encourage you to pray, and to ask you to consider giving … I am writing to share a little glimpse of one of the many ways in which God has been doing more than we can ask or imagine. Paul finishes that sentence in Ephesians with “according to his power that is at work within us”. This has reminded me that when I (and we) pay attention to His voice and walk in what He is saying, there is a power at work within me (and us) that is far greater than I can imagine.