The Blessing of Clean Water
Photo credit: World Vision
My husband and I have been child sponsors and donors to World Vision for 18 years and have been incredibly blessed to be a part of their ministry. In 2009 I was excited to be a part of their Day of Prayer that happens each year on October 1st, the first day of their fiscal year. They close all of their offices around the world and pray for the day. They have worship time, guest speakers and private prayer times. It was an amazing blessing to be surrounded by people of all different denominations gathered for the singular purpose of praying to be used by God around the world to help the poor and marginalized in society.
I was overwhelmed that day with the thought that women all over the world love their children just as much as I do, but they don’t have access to all the things that I do here in America. As the day progressed I kept thinking over and over about how much we take clean water for granted and I wanted to do something to help some mothers in another part of the world. I came home from my trip and talked with my husband about us finding a way to save or raise enough money to dig a water well for a village in need. I researched how much it would cost and how many people a traditional water well could provide for each day. Shortly after that I realized that my next birthday was going to fall on 10/10/10. We decided to have a birthday party and tell everyone “no gifts” and ask that they donate towards the water well if they so desired.
Photo credit World Vision SE Asia
As my birthday drew closer I made up invitations with an explanation of why I wanted my birthday to be used to help others. I also mentioned it on Facebook and there were people who don’t live near us who asked me if they could send a check and contribute also. My husband and I had a saved up our portion and prayed that God would allow for people to give enough for one well. Some dear friends hosted the party and their house, which was wonderful because they had a lot more room. Some of my friends and relatives came to town for the event. It was a wonderful time with food, fellowship and a bounce house for the kids. At the event several of the kids came up to ask me questions about why I was doing this and I had a great time explaining it to them and how we are so blessed to never worry about clean water.
That night we counted up the money and checks and I was in awe of God’s provision – we had raised $3000! It was enough for one water well and I thought perhaps a cow or some goats. I was so excited that I posted it on Facebook and the next day more people contacted me that they were going to mail checks and by the end of the week I had $4000. I decided to wait one more week before mailing all the donations in and several more checks arrive and in the end we had $5200. It was exactly enough for two wells and I was over the moon excited!! It meant that at least 300 people and their livestock would now have access to clean and safe water each day.
It’s been two years now and I think about those water wells frequently and I am so very humbled that God used our family and friends to provide for the least of these around the world.
Isaiah 58:10,
“and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,and your night will become like the noonday.“
Louanne lives in Texas with her awesome husband and two daughters. She loves Jesus, cookies, reading, crafting, laughing a lot and baking. She homeschools her girls and also runs a mentorship program for at risk children in a local elementary school. Louanne also enjoys documenting her family’s adventures through photos and blogging, finding coupon deals and making gifts for family and friends. Louanne blogs over at www.dwimble.com and you can find her on Facebook and Twitter.