500 ORDINARY PEOPLE AND 1 EXTRAORDINARY GOD

Today is March 28, 2016.  It has been 2 years and 3 months since Soaring Wings Ministries purchased 499 Trinity Lane in Wellington, Colorado and it has been 2 years and 7 months since we left New Hampshire and traveled across the country on a  journey of faith to plant Soaring Wings Ministries as a temporary home and an offering of hope to homeless families and young adults in Northern Colorado.

I don't know what has caused me to reflect back on our journey here as it isn't an official anniversary date of leaving New Hampshire or of purchasing 499 Trinity Lane in Wellington but nevertheless, my thoughts have caused me to reflect on how far we have come and how much God has done in two and a half years since we left New Hampshire.

I remember so very well arriving here in Colorado from New Hampshire.  Meredith, her husband Todd, and their little girl Payton, traveled with us.  We traveled in two vehicles with 4 dogs and 1 cat.  The journey was a hard, emotional one for me.  I did not like the adventure of the journey.  I longed for the mundane and the ordinary.    Meredith and Ed kept trying to encourage me along the way and said I would feel better when the journey was over and we were in Colorado.  I was not convinced.  I remember when we pulled into a campground in Wellington, Colorado after our long, cross country journey and Meredith said to me that we had arrived.  I remember thinking arrived where?  Arrived to what?  This campground was to be our home until we could get settled? Get settled?  Get settled into....into what and into where?  I felt so all alone and so afraid.  It was so hard to say good-bye to Meredith, Todd and Payton as they flew back home to their life on Cape Cod.  Ed and I were left living in a campground to begin a ministry to the homeless and needy in northern Colorado.  Little did I know during those hard, lonely days at the campground that God had a little house on the prairie waiting for us just 10 miles from where we were staying.  Little did I know that in a housing market where the prices were through the roof,  that God had a house on 40 acres waiting for us that Soaring Wings Ministries could afford to purchase, with cash,  so that the ministry would have no mortgage.  Little did I know that over the next 2 years God would send us wonderful, generous and ORDINARY people to help us along our journey to grow Soaring Wings Ministries.  I can't give you an exact number of people that have helped us since we have arrived here but the number is well over 500 people!!!!   Over 500 ordinary, everyday people!!!! Over 500 people that God has used and directed to do His work of growing Soaring Wings Ministries!!! Over 500 people reaching out to help the homeless and needy in Northern Colorado!!!!!  Over 500 generous, hard working, everyday people, doing what they could to help Soaring Wings Ministries progress from a vision to a reality!!!! What a miracle and what an amazing God we serve!!!!!  

Maybe my thoughts are reflecting back to our journey here because we are so very, very close to making our vision,  of Trinity Lane being a temporary home for a homeless family,  a reality.  That Soaring Wings Ministries, on March 28, 2016, would be this close to realizing a vision truly is a miracle and a testament to God's power, guidance and blessing.   The reason this is such a miracle is because Ed, Meredith and I are just ordinary people and because all of our financial support, gifts, prayers and encouragement has come from ordinary people.    Never doubt that God is a God of miracles and never doubt that God guides and blesses ordinary people to accomplish His will.  Ed, Meredith and I are not extraordinary people, wealthy people or people with great talents.  We are not, by any means, accomplished or gifted writers, speakers, fundraisers, planners, builders or organizers....WE ARE ORDINARY PEOPLE SERVING AN EXTRAORDINARY  GOD!  The fact of the matter is that Meredith, Ed and I are way out of our comfort zone.  We are all introverts.  We like the ordinary, we like the mundane, we like time our at home and we like the uneventful.  But, as much as we like these things, we like saying yes to God more and we like seeing how God can work through ordinary people who say yes to Him.

The ONLY reason why Soaring Wings Ministries has come this far is because we serve a great, mighty, powerful, generous, good and loving God.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  The God of the Old Testament, the God who sent His son Jesus to die on the cross and then defeat death through the resurrection three days later, is the very same God who leads, guides, directs and blesses Soaring Wings Ministries. Ed, Meredith and I draw on the power, blessing and guidance of God everyday.  We lean hard on Him when our introverted personalities and ordinary desires cause us to shy away from the task at hand.  We tell Him that we are doing the best that we can and we ask Him to bless our  meager efforts.  God hears our prayers and God does indeed bless our efforts.  

My heart is full of praise, gratitude, humility and amazement as I think of all that God has accomplished through over 500 ordinary people that  said yes to God.  There is a huge lump in my throat and I am pushing back tears  as I think about God's goodness and greatness.    We are all so very ordinary but God is not.  He deserves all of our praise and He deserves ordinary people, giving their lives over to Him,  to serve Him without reservation.   

His humble and grateful servant,
Anita Rennells
Wellington, Colorado