A week has passed since we did, my first as well, evangelical outreach at the Ospital ng Muntinlupa. I don't know how to perfectly share the experience without giving due credit to the man behind all of it, noone else but, our Lord Jesus Christ. All from Him, through Him and for Him.
One of my dream jobs, probably the top, is to become a philanthropist who dedicates her time in making the world a better place to live in (if only my height allowed me to be a Ms. Universe!). Volunteering for humanitarian organizations has remained a frustrated dream because I lived in a discontented life. That's the contradiction: I want to help but I feel like I can't. This 24-year old frustrated dream suddenly had meaning when I accepted Christ who showed me my purpose by the gift of eternal life. He loved me (us) too much to die on the cross for our mistakes, and up to this day, continues to love despite our sinful lives.
As Christ commanded us in Matthew 22:37–40 to: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” That LOVE became the sole reason for this charity.
Isn't it appropriate to say that the more you fall in love with someone, you grow to loving what He loves? I love Him who loves you, so I am to love you as well, right? Another emphasis here is that we are not given only one commandment, rather two that are inseparable.
I am so blessed to have a close friend/spiritual accountability partner, Richel, who shares the same heart in helping others. We've been discussing this long before but the actual planning just started a month and a half before the event. There are too many options on how we can reach out because there A LOT of people are in need. But we agreed that in whatever form it may be, our main objective remains the same: to share the gospel. Giving donations is only secondary because undisputedly the GOOD NEWS is the best gift we can ever give someone.
Here are two of the many learnings from this outreach activity:
1. God's grace is abounding because of His faithfulness. (2 Corinthians 9:8, And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.)
When God confirmed to us that we are doing it in Ospital ng Muntinlupa (affirming it from the management's approval to the clear vision of how are staging it), He equipped us all throughout the process. We set our target to 40 beneficiaries and made a modest list of what we are giving: bible, gospel tracts, afternoon snacks, and noche buena gift packs. We are well aware that we both can't do it alone, so we designed the outreach as a fundraising activity by seeking sponsors for the gift packs and fully involving the Singles Ministry of our church. Only with His grace, we achieved these amazing results:
a. Almost 40 patients + their relatives heard the Gospel! Our prayer continues that their acceptance were truthful and/or allowing the God to transform their lives.
b. Raised 47,000+ (we are still waiting for some) which is more than twice of our target! c. There were 30 passionate volunteers who sacrificed their Sunday family day to be part of this.
d. Got the bibles for a discounted price of Php 116 from Php 145.
e. Couple of people sponsored the snacks, water, and paper bags.
f. Excess monetary donations will be used for the next project(s)!
2. It's not about us. As I said above, Rich and I are not taking any credit for this, because we clearly didn't do this alone. God made His presence felt through the people who joyfully served with us. We became the fuel of the vessels in people whom God called to take part in His great work. I am forever humbled by that.
The wisdom, time and being hands-on of the Offsite Cluster of the CCF Ministry smoothen the preparations. Their spiritual maturity kept us aligned to the main objective. The 30 volunteers who shared the gospel completed the objective. I can't imagine how we could've finished the day without their compassion and passion to serve. The generous hearts of the sponsors who shared their overflowing blessings in private motivated the project to do more for others. Our DGroup Upline and kind hearts who helped in the packing, loading of the goods and those we may have failed to see - you are a huge of this.
I can go on sharing the wonderful stories before, during and after this activity. My heart is full of praises to the Lord for this opportunity to serve Him through serving others. On a personal note, I am scared (scared is an understatement because I can seriously die!) of hospitals or anything medical/blood-related. Looking how I was able to do it, there's indeed a superficial power who carried me through. I am speechless on how God placed me in this situation to improve myself still for His glory.
As the year closes, I am writing this to remind myself or anyone who might stumble upon this post, of the work done and to be done. We have kept a directory of the patients so we can keep in touch with them and hopefully meet and minister to them again. Also, to continually pray for their healing and spiritual growth. Lastly, that this activity will not become a Christmas or seasonal project, rather the start of many projects next year. Projects that are "outward" because the lost are outside of our comfort zones. All we need is to step out and up for LOVE.
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These past months, I have been cynical on posting stuff on social media as I find it as a trap for self-righteousness. I am struggling on being intentional in everything I do, trying to avoid doing things just for the sake of it. This outreach activity has been full of praise reports, however, I was to reluctant to share it online making it like a "publicity stint" or making it about me no matter how I give the glory to the Lord. Then, a friend told me to not overthink because social media will be useful on the next projects by making people aware of what has been done and we commit to do. I couldn't agree more, thus this blog post :)
All Him, all for Him.
