From above.

So I know I’m VERY late in doing a Christmas post but daily life runs away with me EVERY day!!!! Some days I think we are running on pure adrenaline 🙂

Life over the past few months have been anything but easy. We have battled almost daily to provide for our family’s needs as well as those of our refugees. Up until the week before Christmas I had pretty much written off Christmas for our family.  And then of course our Father breaks in and changes things around for us. Just as He always does! He not only provided gifts for our children and Andrew and Rae’s children but He also provided for our refugee kiddies and adults.

He’s a good good Father.

I just wanted to say a HUGE “THANK YOU!” to all the people out there who made Christmas possible this year. You have no idea what a blessing you all are. You paid for gifts, food and transport to get them. You made it possible for us to love and bless these friends of ours. You did this. YOU!

Thank you for your generous hearts and your belief in the calling that has been placed on our family.

Thank you to those of you who have supported our family over the past year, making daily life on the mission field possible. You have kept us here. You and your love and support.

We LITERALLY can not do this without you all. We love you. We wish you could all come for a visit to see first hand how our life is.

As we start 2016 we are hopeful and are anticipating a wonderful year. We are trusting Him for continuous miracles. We are trusting Him for provision. We are trusting Him for growth, in every sense. Please will you trust with us?

We are lifting you all up and praying for the best year ever!

We love you.

Blessings from the Downs Family. xx

 

The bottle of Coke that was not just a bottle of Coke….

Some might see a bottle of coke. I see much more…. 8 years ago I started spending time in the most notorious homeless shelter in Durban. On a street where most people would NEVER go. I decided that I would commit to going at least once a week (alone) for as long as God made it possible.
I spent my time surrounded by drug lords, addicts, criminals, street kids and sex workers. Seriously the lowest or the low. The profoundly broken. The destitute. The insane. The lost.
I loved them. I grieve for who they could have been.
One of the first women that i had the opportunity to love was called Anna-Marie. She had been addicted to heroin for 12 years. Selling herself to get her fixes and pay her rent.
She was so so low, so sick and so profoundly broken.
I spent hours sitting on her matress praying for her while she shot drugs into her veins.
One day she was gone. No one knew where she was or what had happened to her. We just all assumed the worst.
Fast forward 4 years and i am sitting in Hope’s Closet when a lady comes in the door selling home made pickles and cookies. I look up and standing in front of me is Anna- Marie!!!
Healthy, drug free, running her own business!
For the past year she comes to see me once a week. We hug, we pray, we chat.
One hour ago she came into the shop to wish me Happy New Year and to tell me that she is 5 years clean today!
I am so so proud of her.

She had her little trolly of goods to sell but i have no money so i told her that today i couldnt buy anything from her. She said not to worry, that God would provide. Hugged me and left.

I watched her walk up and down the street going into all the shops to sell her pickles. She just came back now with a bottle of ice cold coke for me. She told me that she wanted me to know that God has me and my family on His mind and that this coke is a sign of His provision. She also said that all those times that i provided a drink or something to eat for her was what kept her going some days. And she wanted to return the favor.
So im sitting here with my coke that is way more than a coke. Its a reminder of His love and provision. Of His healing and salvation.