I am sitting looking out the window at a beautiful view from Creative Hands. We are blessed with a beautiful view and today the sun is shining on the blue waters of the sea and it is just stunning. It makes me pose and offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for providing this space for us in answer to many prayers that people prayed for us, as we had to move from our previous location in August 2022.
I have been thinking a lot about prayer and the power that is released when we begin to pray. You have been on this journey, praying and trusting God with us as we have seen many prayers answered and we believe we will continue to see even more.
Last week, I was informed that one of the women at Creative Hands, Azam a single mother of two small children from Iran, had been informed that she has to move from the apartment where she currently lives and find a new one. A friend of hers who has been helping her with practical things informed us and asked if we could help. This friend is not a believer and does not believe in God and her attitude was a solution has to be found now. I sat down with this woman and explained to her how we operate: prayer first, entrust the situation to God and wait for him to lead and guide because He opens doors. To a person who does not believe in God and has no place for prayer in her life this was, “foolishness and a waste of time.” I shared with her about my journey of seeing God answer prayer time after time. This was on a Friday.
Saturday morning I received an email from from a friend in the USA who has so far released two properties for us to use. We have housed some of our women in the properties for free for the last 3 years and as from June the women will start paying rent. We are forever grateful. In the email from my friend, he was updating me on the progress with the leases for the houses etc. Then at the end of his email, he asked me if we would be interested in renting an apartment which he bought and renovated, which isn’t very far from my apartment. I remember two years back, when he bought the apartment I helped him find a constructor to renovate it because he wanted to use it as an Airbnb. Now, this apartment he feels will benefit us because he believes in the work we do! Bear in mind this man is not a follower of Jesus, “yet”!
I immediately responded that we would be very happy to use the apartment and I shared with him how this was an answer to prayer. So, God in His mercy and sovereignty has provided for Azam a place that is fully furnished with everything new and my heart is filled with gratitude.
I met with Azam’s friend who does not believe in God and shared the testimony of God’s answer and she was blown away and we are grateful to God for that as well.
I then told this woman that Azam has to contribute towards the rent and not wait for everything to be done for her, contrary to her belief. This gave me the opportunity to share about what our mission is at Creative Hands. We are not to perpetuate self-pity, low self-esteem, hopelessness or despair. We are here to help every woman who walks through our doors know that they have value, dignity, worth and we want them to be responsible members of society, woman who are proud of who they are and women who are empowered to make decisions and own those decisions. This can be done by allowing the women at Creative Hands to pay part of their rent and then this friend can help with the balance. It was a hard one for this woman but she agreed and it is mind shifting for her, especially as she comes from a background where all things have to be given to refugees.
Then, at the end I asked her if I could pray for her needs and she shared about her situation and I believe it was because of sharing the testimony of God providing a place for Azam that she said yes we could pray together.
Prayer works! We would appreciate your continued prayers for us especially for markets for our products and also finances so that in May we can employ the new women who are currently in training.
Thank you