YOU'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE MUCH MONEY
Yesterday, my daughter Betsie spent hours and hours baking brownies and cookies for Thailand missions trip fundraiser at the local grocery store today. At around 10:00, she started bagging up the goodies. She asked me how much she should sell them for. I recommended 50 cents a pack but when we added up the amount of money she'd spent on supplies, that was only going to leave her with about 5 bucks profit. We decided she'd better bump up the price to 75 cents a pack but that still was just not going to net her much money for the time and money she'd invested.
I told her "you're not going to make much money". We talked about the fact that next time she'd need to not buy such pricey mixes. But ultimately, I said, she'd just need to pray and ask God to multiply the profits, because the most she could hope for at 75 cents a pack, was still just about $15. And then, since her sister Anna was going to help her at the sale, she needed to give her some of the profits as well to apply toward her Thailand trip.
I'll be honest, I was discouraged for her. All on her own, she'd set up the sale, bought the ingredients, cooked the goodies, and packaged them. We'd tried to get some donations to sell, but it just hadn't happened this time around.
Fast forward to this afternoon. She and her sister had play practice with their homeschool group so her brother P and I got to the store and set up on the sidewalk til they could get there. Within 10 to 15 minutes we'd already sold about $10 worth of baked goods and had been given about $10 in out right donations. They arrived about a half hour after we set up and before I left to leave them on their own to sell, a friend showed up. She let her kids pick out a sweet a piece and then blessed them with a couple of hundred dollars! That's right....a handful of baked goods bought for hundreds of dollars.
WOW!
What an amazing and unexpected overflow of provision.
And this isn't a rich friend. It is someone who lives a very simple life.
But they have richly invested into my girls' missions trips again and again.
Isn't that like God? The same God who took a little boys' lunch and fed thousands took my daughter's few dozen brownies and goodies (plus a few packs of Silly Bandz thrown in by this mom who was feeling sorry for her) and brought about abundant profit through someone who isn't rich or famous but someone with a humble, willing, and giving spirit.
I don't know how much more they'll raise today. I figure, that knowing our community, they'll likely sell all of their baked offerings today. And I also figure that there will be others who will give just to give, not because they are getting a brownie or cookie in return.
We'll not know the final amount they've raised til the sale ends in an hour or so, but one thing we know --- once again, God has reminded us that when HE CALLS, HE WILL PROVIDE!
If you feel your heart being pulled to go on a missions trip but you just don't see how you can afford it, that's okay. You might not can financially afford it, but He can! He's the multiplier of loaves and fishes, and the blesser of brownies and chocolate chip cookies.
Yesterday, my daughter Betsie spent hours and hours baking brownies and cookies for Thailand missions trip fundraiser at the local grocery store today. At around 10:00, she started bagging up the goodies. She asked me how much she should sell them for. I recommended 50 cents a pack but when we added up the amount of money she'd spent on supplies, that was only going to leave her with about 5 bucks profit. We decided she'd better bump up the price to 75 cents a pack but that still was just not going to net her much money for the time and money she'd invested.I told her "you're not going to make much money". We talked about the fact that next time she'd need to not buy such pricey mixes. But ultimately, I said, she'd just need to pray and ask God to multiply the profits, because the most she could hope for at 75 cents a pack, was still just about $15. And then, since her sister Anna was going to help her at the sale, she needed to give her some of the profits as well to apply toward her Thailand trip.
I'll be honest, I was discouraged for her. All on her own, she'd set up the sale, bought the ingredients, cooked the goodies, and packaged them. We'd tried to get some donations to sell, but it just hadn't happened this time around.
Fast forward to this afternoon. She and her sister had play practice with their homeschool group so her brother P and I got to the store and set up on the sidewalk til they could get there. Within 10 to 15 minutes we'd already sold about $10 worth of baked goods and had been given about $10 in out right donations. They arrived about a half hour after we set up and before I left to leave them on their own to sell, a friend showed up. She let her kids pick out a sweet a piece and then blessed them with a couple of hundred dollars! That's right....a handful of baked goods bought for hundreds of dollars.
WOW!
What an amazing and unexpected overflow of provision.
And this isn't a rich friend. It is someone who lives a very simple life.
But they have richly invested into my girls' missions trips again and again.
Isn't that like God? The same God who took a little boys' lunch and fed thousands took my daughter's few dozen brownies and goodies (plus a few packs of Silly Bandz thrown in by this mom who was feeling sorry for her) and brought about abundant profit through someone who isn't rich or famous but someone with a humble, willing, and giving spirit.
I don't know how much more they'll raise today. I figure, that knowing our community, they'll likely sell all of their baked offerings today. And I also figure that there will be others who will give just to give, not because they are getting a brownie or cookie in return.
We'll not know the final amount they've raised til the sale ends in an hour or so, but one thing we know --- once again, God has reminded us that when HE CALLS, HE WILL PROVIDE!
If you feel your heart being pulled to go on a missions trip but you just don't see how you can afford it, that's okay. You might not can financially afford it, but He can! He's the multiplier of loaves and fishes, and the blesser of brownies and chocolate chip cookies.
1 comment:
What a beautiful testimony. I love how B gave the Lord the fishes to reproduce with! It's true that it is NOT the rich who give. I have found just the opposite to be true.
I don't have much of anything to spare but I could come and purchase eggs. We use a lot of them.
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