Late in 2011, an injury left me unable to do many of the things I used to, and those things all fell on Herb. One of those things was me being able to drive down to Leahaven and spend 4 or 5 hours cleaning whenever needed. As I saw Herb taking on one more burden on top of all he was already doing, I began to wonder if it was time for us to end our ministry at Leahaven. I asked Herb if he thought we should sell. His answer was a resounding no! He loves this farm, he said, and wants us to keep it.
We can keep the farm without keeping up the ministry, I told him, but he wasn't ready to quit. So I began to ask the Lord: "If you want us to keep up this ministry, please make Your will clear to us."
Now that we've reached the end of 2012, Herb and I looked back over our bookings for the past year. Since I began keeping records in 2010, we have had 17 bookings each year. This year was the same--no more, no less. What changed, though, was the requests that came our way.
We used to get mostly pastoral and missionary families wanting a low-cost vacation. While we are glad to help them, that was not our vision in founding Leahaven. Our heart's desire was to minister to hurting servants of God, those who were truly in need of a spiritual retreat.
And those are exactly the people that the Lord has brought us this year. He's sent us people who were bereaved, whose hearts were breaking under burdens that moved us to tears; people who were suffering physically and in pain; people who have gone through one trial after another; people who have poured themselves out in God's service till they had no more to give.
Of course it grieves our hearts to know that our brothers and sisters are suffering so deeply! But we know they are suffering anyway, whether we are here to help them or not. And as long as they are suffering and in need of a retreat, we thank our loving heavenly Father Who sends them to a place that He has ordained to be a place of blessing for them. We are thankful and encouraged that we are, indeed, meeting a need that the Lord has called us to meet.
As we finish our fifth year of ministry at Leahaven and look forward to a sixth year, we give all the glory to God for His rich blessings on so many lives and for His many, many answered prayers.
"Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD."
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD."
Lamentations 3: 22-26
