Weeks of Hope

Isn't that an encouraging title?!  Weeks of hope! Who wouldn't want to have weeks of hope?  We all need hope and without it get discouraged, get grumpy, get overwhelmed or sometimes without hope we just give  up.  

Hope is so important and so it is that every summer we looked forward to serving as a host site for teenagers to come and volunteer at Soaring Wings Ministries through a program called Week of Hope.  For 5 weeks this summer we will have a different group of teenagers and their adult leader helping out with Soaring Wings Ministries.  I can hear you now asking "What will they be doing?".  Each week will be different but also similar.  Different in that each week there will be different jobs for the teens to do.  Our list of jobs this year include roof repair on some of the sheds, building outdoor benches, filling in a trench, cleaning the siding on the porch, repairing a broken outdoor chair, staining picnic tables, pulling weeds, planting a garden, demolishing an old chicken coop....the list goes on.  That is just a sampling of some of the jobs they will be doing.  Even though the jobs will be different each week, the schedule will be the same as each Wednesday we will have the teens put together Blessing Bags and then we will all go down to Fort Collins to give out the Blessing Bags to the homeless.  At the end of each week, on Thursday afternoon, we will say thank you to our teen volunteers with a cook out for lunch.  

Our first group of teens and adult leader will arrive on Monday morning at 9:00 a.m.  We have not yet met them and each Monday morning through the summer we watch a van drive down our long road and into our driveway and we wonder what the teens will be like who will  be stepping out of the van and spending each day with us for a week.  I can tell you that each group is uniquely different and I can also tell you that 99.9 percent of the teens are very hard and enthusiastic workers.  

As we have been anticipating the arrival of Week of Hope we have been preparing for their arrival.  We have our list of jobs ready and we have also made sure that we have all the materials ready that they will need to complete their jobs.  We also have our kitchen stocked with food for the picnic each Thursday.  We have been praying for the teens that will arrive and I know that God is preparing us and the teens for the summer here at Soaring Wings Ministries.  Once again you probably are wondering, how do you know that God is preparing everyone for the summer of Week of Hope?  I know because God speaks to me and all of us through scripture.  I spend time reading my Bible every morning and last week each devotional that I read led me to the exact same scripture verse....Matthew 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven".  It is no coincidence that everything I've read spoke about being a light in this world that shines for the glory of God.  

My prayer for the upcoming weeks of Week of Hope is that we can all be a light for the glory of God.  Ed and I want to be a light to the teens and to the homeless and we want the teens to be a light to us and to the homeless as well.  We pray that everything that we do during the next 5 weeks will all be done for the glory of God.  We want other people to see Jesus when they see the work that is being done. 

I ask that you pray along with us for our summer of Week of Hope.  Pray for the teens that they will have fun, work hard and be safe.  Pray for good health and energy for Ed and I.  Pray for our interactions with the homeless.  Pray that our light will shine before men in everything we do so that they will see our good deeds and give PRAISE TO OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.  

With all Praise to our Heavenly Father,

Anita Rennells
Soaring Wings Ministries
Wellington, Colorado 



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