GROWING SEEDS: "Can You Hear Him Whispering?"

 

Eighteen years ago when Chuck and I moved to the lake from Dallas, the only stores we were familiar with in Mt. Vernon were Brookshires, Vaughn's Catfish and the Exxon Gas Station.  Oh, and I almost forgot....a restaurant called Barnstormers with a cool plane hanging from the ceiling where McDonalds now sits.  It would be another 12 years before I realized we didn't live in Mayberry.....that there was another "side" of Mt. Vernon few of us knew about. 

Fast forward to 2014.  A single, young 22-year old local Librarian named Anna Hood was also noticing we didn't live in Mayberry.  She saw the kids who had no where to go after school hanging out in her corner of the square at the Library.  She befriended them...kept watch over them....taught them life lessons from the safety of the Library, and they fell in love with Ms. Anna.  She saw a need....she took a leap of Faith...and she opened The Bountiful House; a non-profit temporary after-school "home", complete with its very own family that included mentors, tutors, teachers and people like you and me just wanting to make a difference.  And because of her strong Faith and Trust in God, she never once asked for money.  Nope...not once.  And God always provided.

In the Spring of 2019, the Hilltop Baptist Church building located right smack in the heart of Mt. Vernon and across from where most of the kids live, was donated to The Bountiful House as a place to grow this little family, touch more lives and make an even bigger difference in the children of this sweet town.  I'll never forget driving up the road to the future "Bountiful Place" for the first renovation meeting two months ago.  I was expecting maybe 20 people....but the place was packed!   Volunteers filled the donated church to the brim!  Electricians, plumbers, concrete contractors, roofers, sheet rockers and general contractors were all sitting together ready to change the future of Mt. Vernon; all because one young Librarian had the Faith of a mustard seed.  I just couldn't stop smiling.

And neither could God.  Without His whispers continually on the hearts of many in this small town to donate their time, their pocketbooks, their skills and their hearts to secure the futures of our children in Mt. Vernon, this extensive project would not be happening.  It's in the whispers, friends...the same whispers that stilled the winds and the water...that whisper to our souls.

"He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another,

“Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” 

Luke 8:25

Lean in.....can you hear Him whispering?