HOORAY! The 5,000 euro needed for project women's home Berdichev, Ukraine came in. Fantastisc, this happened really fast. Thank you very much for all your support. We will have pictures soon! We have a wide variety of projects lined up, so let's move on...
If you have been a reader of this weblog for some time, you may have noticed that every now and then we have projects to help individual people on their road to recovery. Especially when their past has been a mess. We have helped formerly addicted people to pay for dental help and study expenses. Why do we do that as a non-profit? Because Jesus has an eye for the individual. He used to pick people from a crowd (no matter what their background was) and showed His love and grace to them.
We will stay in the Netherlands this time. We would like for you all to meet Theo. Please read below how a visit to a Christmas Eve service changed his life!
Theo grew up in a broken home and as a result of all the trouble became very violent at a young age. He was taken away from his home and placed under government care. During this time he was abused and raped and when he finally turned 18, he was looking forward to starting his own life. He was looking for happiness. When his girlfriend died in a motorcycle crash his life went down hill. As he says: "I did everything God didn't want me to do."
He got into a new relationship and married. When their daughter was born, he began to believe in happiness again. But his violent past got a hold of him and after a while he ended up in prison. His marriage fell apart and he lost contact with his daughter. When she turned 18 she contacted him again, a small light in the darkness of his life. But there was just too much pain and reproach and their relationship did not work out. Theo decided that happiness was not meant for him.
During this time he got invited to a Christmas Eve church service in The Hoeksteen Church in Etten-Leur. Theo had visited the night mass in his town, but had never been in an evangelical church. After that night he decided to visit The Hoeksteen more regularly. For the first time in his life he experienced peace (which is much more valuable than happiness). He has been coming to our church for quite some time now and slowly he is letting God heal his inner wounds.
One day we asked him whether we could help him to heal his outer 'wounds'. Theo's teeth (or, what was left of it) were a mess. God looks at the heart, but human beings will mostly look at the outside when meeting for the first time... So it was decided that Theo would go to our sister-in-law, who is a wonderful and highly experienced dentist. She has done a great job giving him advice and soon he will be able to smile again :) Traveling Light is honored to pay that part of the bill not covered by his insurance. We will need about 600 euro.
To us, this is practical Christianity: helping someone to get back on their feet and live a dignified life.
All gifts, large or small, are welcome on Rabo bank nr.
IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275
BIC: RABONL2U