Bitty boys, huge hearts

“Um, Miss Cassie, we have some dollars for you,” the four-year-old excitedly tells me, as he’s leaning against the peninsula in the kitchen while I’m sitting at the table.

Apparently, unable to put two and two together, I respond with a half-question, “Oh yeah?”

“You’re not supposed to tell her yet!” his brother disappointedly calls from the other room.

“It’s ok,” their mom comforts them. “Do you want to go get it now?”

A few minutes later, all three boys return to the kitchen, in a neatly-formed line.

First, the four-year-old approaches me. He opens his tiny hand and, inside, is a neatly folded bill. As he hands it to me, a smile stretches across his entire face.

Second, the seven-year-old. In the same way, he opens his hand into mine and another folded bill falls into my hand. He says, “This is for you to go to Uganda.”

Third, the ten-year-old approaches. As he looks around, he says, “Bless you in Uganda.” He extends his hand with a thicker stack of bills pinched between his thumb and fingers.

Their mom goes on to tell me how they told the boys about my move to Uganda and how I’d be helping the children there through teaching and ministering. The boys asked if they could use some of their money from their piggy banks to give me to help.

These three young boys cheerfully and willingly dug into their personal piggy banks because they believe in what God has called me to in Uganda.

I was, and still am, so overwhelmed at the generosity in their hearts.

In a generation of worldliness and always being told to buy more “stuff”, these boys wanted to give an amount towards furthering the gospel that could have went very far in purchasing themselves some new toys.

Between the boys and the hours of food and conversations with them and their parents, that day was exactly the encouragement and fellowship that I needed to head into this week.

To say that this past week has been tough, might be an understatement.

Things I thought were a sure thing, have fallen through.

Thoughts that are nothing short of discouraging and untrue have tried creeping into my head.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been reading some books about long-term ministry and fundraising. I often found myself saying, “Yeah, I already knew that.”

But then, at the end of the night, I realize I don’t really believe it.

I’ve found out that knowing something and believing something are not the same thing. 

Today, just a handful of days before my plane departs for a world of unknowns in Uganda, I am learning to believe the things that I do already know. Like that the friends and family I have surrounding me love me unconditionally, are super supportive, believe in God's calling over my life, and are encouragement and words of wisdom when I need it.