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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Incredible Story -- Final Chapter

Thanks so much to everyone who’s been following the Ernest and Catherine story.

Dan and I felt compelled to share this story of radical sacrifice. We wanted to write about it and we wanted all of you to know. But it was hard to share these details. The facts are just so humbling.

For sure, Dan and I have received some criticism since adopting Hannah and Joseph. We get weird looks in the grocery store and we endure rude and insensitive comments all the time. But in the grand scheme of things, we haven’t sacrificed much. We’ve given up our free time, our extra money and some space in our house – but we got a son and a daughter in return. Ernest and Catherine gave much, much more. And they got nothing in return. But great is their reward in Heaven.

Ernest and Catherine have the kind of faith you couldn’t buy in the wealthiest church in America. Indeed, we’d be hard pressed to find anyone in America with their kind of faith. Here, we depend on our wealth, our riches, our stuff. We confess with our mouths and we say we believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord – but do our lives reflect His Lordship?

Ernest – he depends on God. Just before Dan left Hannah and Joseph at his home, back in July, he turned around one last time to look around. Dan pulled Ernest aside and asked him “do you have enough money for all this? Does the church pay you enough to take care of all these children?” Ernest looked Dan square in the eyes and replied “No. But I like it that way. It leaves room for God to work.”

The Lord has proven Himself over and over to Ernest and Catherine – because they’ve continually put themselves in situations that require their total dependence upon Him. They intentionally put themselves in situations that they simply cannot handle on their own. And to God be all the glory.

This week, the Lord proved Himself faithful to Ernest and Catherine once again. The completely unpublicized fundraiser on this little blog raised $8,300 in three days, including the SixtyFeet match. Tell me that’s not God.

The extra money (I would have mentioned this earlier but, frankly, my faithless little heart never imagined all this!) will be used to build the Sunday school building for the new church. Because right now the children are meeting like this:


Some donations came from people who know Dan and me, some came from folks who know Ernest and Catherine and some came from people who have never met any of us. Thank you for trusting us in faith. You will not be sorry.

I hope you are as inspired and moved by Ernest and Catherine as I am. This life they are living -- this is pure and faultess religion.

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings who cannot save… Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” – Psalm 146:3,5

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I probably should be ashamed to say this, but there aren't many things for which I've stopped what I'm doing to literally drop down on my knees and thank God. This compelled me to. How could I not? I thanked Him for the faith of Ernest and Catherine and thanked Him for HIS faith to them, too. To imagine God is even infinitely more faithful?! And more GOOD?! Oh, how humbling. Finally, I'm so grateful to see how you all are so faithful to Ernest, Catherine, the children and God. Again, thank you for sharing this as you go along and giving more people the opportunity to have a tiny part in it all, too!

Melissa O said...

I may not have ever met Ernest & Catherine but my life has been impacted and changed by their faith. Thank you for sharing their story and allowing us to thank them for all they're doing.

Lara said...

This is amazing!! Love you, ShellyO!

meredith and justin said...

This is awesome! Thank you for sharing this story and for allowing us to be a small part of what God is doing through their lives.

Audrey B said...

God is so good!

Joshua and Hilary said...

Im just so ridiculously in love with this whole story and keep sending it to everyone I know because I think it just screams "Jesus!" all over it! They "get it" and they're willing to live it! Praise God for blessing them! I'm with Nancy- this is a "drop down to my knees and thank God" kind of moment for sure! I'm blessed to be friends with Nancy and be starting an orphan care ministry at our church with her help and I can't tell you how often the both of us talk about ya'll! God is up to BIG things and it's contagious!