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The holiday season was when we finally felt that bitter part of the bittersweet 2020 saga sink in. We began the holiday season grieving the end of our weekly meetings with Hannah, our accountability coach throughout this partnership development process. Our idea had always been that we would end our time with her in celebration of being at our funding milestone, but as that milestone had just taken too long to reach, we were told to step down from that time with her. She became a dear mentor to us in more areas than just partnership, and she poured out empathy in the best ways. We were given until the end of January to meet our funding milestone (which makes sense - it’s the funding point where we would no longer be a financial burden to SOAR, allowing them to take on another apprentice) and if that did not happen, Phillip would have to step out of the shop in order to solely focus on the partnership development side of ministry.
We put in the work we felt called to do and poured out our hearts in prayer asking for the Spirit’s convictions as we moved forward. But I knew our greatest strength in this task was trusting God. Friends, we tell you, He has been so faithful in this part of the ministry since the beginning, and of course, He always will be.
I’d like to consider it a Christmas gift from our Heavenly Father, Himself, that we met that financial milestone in December 2020! To recall the lyrics of the song Phillip and I often meditate on before we pray - All Glory Be To Christ! And it is not just us to whom He is faithful. That gift that sent us to the financial milestone comes with a story we share and will forever bring a smile to our faces as we recall it.
We pray that your generosity towards us always proves a worthy cause, yet that does not make it easy to ask for financial support. With her permission, we couldn’t have made up the following story ourselves. As we were contacting a dear friend and potential ministry partner over FaceTime, Phillip awkwardly, yet comfortably, because friends can be comfortable with awkward, invited her to partner with us. To her it was funny we asked, because in the dark of the night before, she prayerfully brought the questioning of her life’s purpose to God. “And, we’ve talked about this before,” she said, “money is like a game for me - like I’m always trying to get the next high score with each paycheck and I can watch my bank account grow. And I don’t know what it was, but I sensed the words - Live Generously.” And that evening we witnessed the obedience of a friend. Thank You, God, for letting the people in this ministry have the opportunity and encouragement to be faithfully obedient to Your direction in life's moments!! Some sort of dance party among Phillip and myself ensued, however we are seriously struggling to remember the song. Don’t work too hard to picture that, though, even our dog gave us a questioning stare.
So, before the three of us was God’s undeniable, perfect timing. What an honor that a friend would “lower her high score” for us. We share this because we believe that your generous investment is towards something good. Something that we are trusting God in because we haven’t seen all fruition of it yet. Phillip and I are not perfect, but there is so much more happening in this ministry than just Phillip and Brooke. It’s not about us. And please know, this is one of many stories about how God uses you - our generous financial and prayerful partners - to reveal himself to us. Of course God brought the funds in time!
I think every time one of you has said “yes” to partnering with us in ministry it brings a smile to our faces. We have also had multiple partners help cover the cost of Phillip’s flight exam that we mentioned in our last update! Getting that exam taken has been a ride lengthier than we had hoped, but for real real, Phillip should be weeks away from it. He has been built up by his instructor, who declared that his flying is almost to perfection, but the oral part of the exam is where he will probably struggle most. His instructor says his students are usually prepared in the reverse way. Please pray that the discipline taken to prepare pays off and for nice weather to take the flight exam.
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