Praise GOD !

Athena H. is our Guest Blogger this post. We give thanks here at Give Hope Ministries.org for her Blog submission.

Praise GOD !
My name is Athena Huss, but in Uganda I am known as Jjaja Mulungi. I have enjoyed so much the Pearl of Africa known as Uganda many many times being obedient to serving God there. I can testify first hand the POWER of PRAYER. Prayers being answered in Uganda. I’m excited to be returning in a few weeks to teach Swimming Lessons and Water Safety on Bugala Island Lake Victoria.
I am also a grateful believer in Jesus Christ and I believe the power of PRAYER should be taught and shared. PRAYER gives hope and comfort. I am a friend that loves to pray for GIVE HOPE MINISTRIES in Busia Uganda. Truthfully, it’s not easy to see the poverty and conditions most of the people we serve live in. I praise God for Give Hope Ministries and have placed a scripture in my heart that resonates with one of my view of God’s love for His children in their ministry:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Since I started following GIVE HOPE MINISTRIES in 2014, I have seen God answer their prayer requests one after the other with His Love, Grace, and Mercy. Being humble, yet asking in faith GHM asks for others to pray for them because of its power. This touches not only one child, but many. And many in their community. This is a life changing community where the children will grow to be life changers. The families are encouraged and their lives are changing for the best and near future. Hope is easy to give and receive when you pray with someone.
In less than 5 years I have seen answered prayer in the children having a safe school with two levels and many classrooms, a school bus for transportation, working indoor kitchen (yay), a Poultry Project, Bibles for the children, and CLEAN WATER for the children and community. God has answered those prayers and has done exceedingly more that has yet to be seen. It’s my great JOY to share how good God is to His children. Mukama Mulungi. Thank you for letting me share the love of Jesus with you and the power of prayer. I will close with the following passage taken from FB Give Hope Ministries Page November 21, 2014) The purpose of life is not only to be happy about what we have achieved. It's to be useful along the way and discovering that our legacy is not found in all that we dream and realize. It can be written in the memories of those whose lives we have touched, cared for and changed. Thank you all for your prayers, generous giving, love for these little ones we serve at GHM, Busia Uganda. For more info, www.givehopeministries.org.

A Banner of Love, Faith and Hope

A Banner of Love, Faith and Hope

Guest Blogger Leah Lincoln, Abide and Seek

https://abideandseek.com/

What is hope? If you were asked what the word hope means to you what you say?

If you had asked me this very question just a few short years ago, my answer would have been to have confidence in my future and to know I would live out the dreams that I so desperately desired. But then I would have agreed that this wasn't all possible. So immediately following my previous notion about hope would be great doubt and hopelessness. Knowing this would have been my answer now greatly saddens my heart.

Jeremiah 29:11 reads. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This is the very first verse I came to love. I instantly became so drawn to this verse because it gave me hope when I felt hopeless. When I read that the Lord declared these words, I knew where I could find hope and as I continued to read and learn from the very words of God, I found it. My hope was found in Jesus Christ, our Lord, and Savior!

After coming to know and love Jesus, many other words come to mind that before were defined differently to me. Faith had new meaning as well as love.

I soon came to find that without knowing Jesus you cannot know love. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

So without love, you cannot have faith. And without faith, you cannot have hope. I picture these attributes of Jesus all strung together like a banner, with the string representing Jesus. Love, faith, and hope all representing their own flag. I picture it being hung directly over me now at all times because these virtues stand firmly in my heart and make me who I am in Christ.

As my husband and I both continue to grow together in Jesus, we have seen our mighty God move through us in so many ways! Connecting our lives with other believers and always standing true to His promises and continually giving us hope for the future.

My husband and I have prayed together about how we can contribute to the expansion of the Gospel. We have asked God to give us direction and call us to areas where we are needed in order to serve Him and to bring Him all the glory. We began by being called to create our first ministry, Abide and Seek.

Abide and Seek was placed on my heart after I befriended a Christian and started volunteering on a local farm, which was uniquely located on a private, Christian school campus. This school works with many displaced boys from middle school up to high school. Due to the impact of this experience, we have planned to develop a small farm where children can come, feel safe and get into God’s creation. We want to create a place that calls out to others, that submerges you in God’s creation where everyone can feel welcomed! Before obtaining the property to farm and living out this big dream, we began writing articles to tell our story and to be able to connect and bring together a community of followers from all over the world!

Since beginning Abide and Seek we have reached thousands of others worldwide! By continued prayer and obedience, God has not only blessed this ministry, but He has also just recently directed my husband and I to start a church right out of our own home! I again think back to the banner that is made up of love, faith, and hope that Jesus brings to our lives and how he has brought us to where we are now.

Throughout this journey, we have been touched by many other believers and ministries who have reached out to us. One ministry, in particular, has stood out to us because of its timing in response to specific prayers. We have been praying to work with a ministry that has an impact globally. Immediately after bringing these requests to the Lord, we received an email from Give Hope Ministries asking us if we would be interested in writing an article for their blog located on their website. We didn’t waste any time and looked into the ministry’s mission. My husband’s immediate response was, “ This is the answer to my prayers!”

Give Hope Ministries mission is written in their name, to give hope. This ministry is located in Uganda where HIV/AIDS is prevalent. Due to the high rate of this disease, there is a high number of orphans. Give Hope Ministries not only educates children for families that cannot afford to send their children to school which typically requires tuition, but they also take in and feed, house, clothe, and educate orphans.

As my husband and I read more about the ministry, we were blown away! They are not only physically providing for those who are in need but they are spiritually equipping them, raising these children to know our loving God. This is the very essence of giving hope!

Give Hope Ministries is showing these children the very words I read when I was hopeless. They have been unveiling the truth, to allow them to be free of doubt, to be able to put all their trust in God so they too can sense the banner of faith, love, and hope that only Jesus can provide! So each one can come to understand that God has a plan for them, to give each one of them hope and a future!

Give Hope Ministries has developed and accomplished so much in a very short period of time, showing how great and amazing our God truly is! They are looking to expand their orphan housing, provide more learning tools such as a computer lab and Bibles as well as constructing a multi-use building.

If you want to help spread the love of God, reach those in need, and bring hope to many, I strongly encourage you to help fund the current and future needs of Give Hope Ministries! Through your donations, you can bring hope and a future to all that come through Give Hope Ministries doors!

WHERE YOU ARE GOING

Glorious 2019, we just had our Board Meeting, the first one for 2019. We reviewed where the Lord has been obvious in his blessings on Give Hope Ministries this past year and are coming close to the 5-year mark where the launch of this journey in the life of the Founder/CEO, Willy Ouma, added this chapter to his journey record, by the Grace of GOD.

GOD blessed us with your giving, with your help, your prayers, your views on our website, your interactions with donations, partnerships and with sharing our ministry with others as ambassadors for us and advocates to Where You are Going in your ministry hearts.

You were going along with us, gradually, and we could see you in every child's face, every brick placed, in the graduating students smiles. God provided YOU being there with us in some way. In Philippians 1:6 it states, “We are confident that HE who started a good work in you will continue it until the day of Christ Jesus." While the words of Paul were to those in the church of Philippi, it applies to us all that GOD takes and makes us part of where HE is taking us inserting us and extracting us in our Journey why we are Going along the steps in our lives. (Psalm 37:23, Proverbs 16:9)

In Love for our GOD and for others, we are to obey the command to Love one another as Jesus left us with this new command. (John 13:34)

Therefore, this blog message is a compliment to GOD of “Where You are Going”, as you are part of the Founder's Journey. You are the stepping-stones, the enabling forces, the movers of mountains, the ones that walk alongside the children, the staff, the community, and the Founder, Willy Ouma, as we all follow the steps ordered by GOD for us all.

In 2018, you helped us get a new School Bus. Admittedly, it seemed at times it would not happen. It seemed obstacles were everywhere, but as our Board Member Richard Z. would say, he learned a lesson in himself about GOD's timing, GOD will make it happen in HIS TIME and we have to go all in TRUSTING GOD that HE is taking us with every step to WHERE WE ARE GOING.

Your hands, footsteps, efforts of generosity lifted by prayers, sharing of the resources GOD provided you, helped us with more Classrooms to complete what was needed to support all students. You helped us with a Restroom facility. The old latrine style retired and no longer part of the life at Give Hope Ministries. You enable us to have a flushing toilet system from start to finish.

In the original plans in the heart of the founder, the facility was to have 300 children capacity. There are about 280 children today and our goal of 300 children is only 20 more away. Does this mean that it is all there is, and that everything will stop now as we have reached that target capacity? NO WAY! This is the first facility of what we pray is more to be realized. This is the learning phase even for the founder and the board of directors and YOU. The steps ahead include a multi-use facility including a formal Church area and another location on a separate property for a vocational education and training center for those with a path other than further education. (GOD has a path for us all.)

We DO NOT STOP at capacity. This is the first of several facilities around Uganda, and it is the model that will we be replicated in other communities and will continue to provide and break the cycle of Poverty. GOD started this good work, he will see it through. This work started at the Cross and has continued with each person that has given, each person that has served others in the command of Christ Jesus to Love one another. Each person that has read what religion GOD accepts is to care for the Widows and the Orphans.(James 1:27) To take care of the least of these, for Jesus stated it was the least that would be the greatest in heaven.

We wanted to share with you, WHERE YOU ARE GOING, and wanted to let you know that the whole of heaven, the whole of Give Hope Ministries was very grateful that HE started a good work in YOU and as a result, we all together continue HIS good work until the day of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior returns. YOU are a part of a purpose that GOD laid out before he formed you in the womb of your mother. (While GOD is speaking to Jeremiah the Prophet, the words apply to us all as HE has done the same for each one of us.) (Jeremiah 1:15, Galatians 1:15).

THANK YOU, GOD BLESS YOU EACH ONE. YOU, and many others, have been with us all these years and with each prayer raised, each hand giving something of themselves and each partnership alongside us, HE has continued to be clear WHERE WE ARE GOING.

This year we have big projects again and we can use your help. One of the events this year is a Team Trip in August 2019. This trip is WHERE YOU ARE GOING if you can come along, we would be delighted if you or a team can come along. You can find out more by going to TRAVEL on our website or by CONTACT US link.. Pray and ask GOD if YOU ARE GOING to Busia, Uganda with us as HE may have already planned this for your journey and we are informing you now so you can get your plans in order to walk the steps ordered by GOD himself.

GOD's thoughts are above our thoughts and His ways above our ways,(Isaiah 55:8-9), but the great thing is, HE has no issue letting his children know those ways and thoughts in his Love, in His perfect timing.

Take the time morning when you awaken and get with GOD and ask Him, “What is on the Agenda for Today GOD?” Listen for "Busia, Uganda is WHERE YOU ARE GOING, and embrace the steps He has ordered for you.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. May GOD continue to Bless You richly, daily.

In full Gratitude,

Give Hope Ministries. org