Blessing Amidst the Storm

Matthew 14:31 "Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' He said, 'why did you doubt?'" 

I'd have to be the first to admit that there were many times along the past few weeks that I felt "doubt" and worry about this yard sale.  This verse comes to mind because Chris and I had multiple conversations in the weeks leading up to this sale about how we thought we couldn't possibly acquire enough items to sell in order to put a dent in our fundraising.  Oh, how God showed us how little our faith can be at times!   

We started filling up our home 3 weeks before the sale and only had a small pile of donations in the corner.  But as word spread that we needed donations, our dining room filled up pretty quickly and it poured out into our living room and front porch.  We started to feel like hoarders! 

As we began to bring items to Portico Church on Sunday evening, we filled up 1/3 of the auditorium.  By Tuesday evening, we arrived to see that the ENTIRE auditorium had been filled with donations.  GOD IS GOOD!  I would have to compare it to when Jesus fed the 5,000, and often during this week, we felt God's faithfulness in supplying all we needed and then some.  If we had to guess the number of families that donated, it would be somewhere around 50+! 

Amazing!

Well, I guess a yard sale is what we would have called this adventure a few weeks ago before we amassed enough stuff to clothe an entire army, furnish multiple houses, and compete with Best Buy for the number of TVs and sound systems on display.  In five short days, we managed to turn the sanctuary of Portico into a flea market!

I remember the night before the yard sale, as we were finishing up our preparations, we checked outside to find that it was SNOWING!!!  I couldn't help, but get worried that this would keep everyone from coming to the sale.  BUT God is faithful - again, we had to trust in Him that HE would provide all we needed. 


"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

As we drove in at 5:30am, the morning of the sale, there was snow on the cars, pouring rain, and all of our yard sale posters had been taken down by the city workers.  I began to worry about whether people were going to show up. I grabbed the duck tape, a towel and some more posters and began driving around trying to hang them up.  BUT, because it was freezing the posters wouldn't stick to the posts!  I had to laugh to myself and ask God, "What are you trying to teach me at this moment!?"  And...yet, I knew exactly what He was teaching me. He was showing me countless times throughout this process that I needed to surrender everything to Him - that He knew the outcome even before we could dream it up.  

God not only touched the hearts of those in our lives to donate more items then we ever could have imagined, He also blessed us with over 100 volunteers!!!  We knew that our church family, relatives, and friends were amazing, but to see such an outpouring of love still overwhelms us.  We want to thank everyone who spent many countless hours organizing, loading/unloading vehicles, tagging items, baking/cooking food, collecting money, cleaning and setting up the church, providing us meals, and most importantly, praying for us. 

The total we raised for the day...$10,058!!  We thought we would raise about $3000 if the weather was good, and God surpassed our expectations.  We reached over half of our fundraising in one day!!!  GOD IS FAITHFUL! 


We can not thank you enough - Both Chris and I said that it was amazing that we raised that amount of money in one day, and know that we couldn't have done it without you!!  But even more amazing than the money, and something that will forever last in our memories, is the support we received from so many people.  Bottom line- we are blessed to have you in our lives and blessed to call Portico Church our home. 


Thank you for being such a blessing to Chris and I!! 

April & Chris
Here are some pictures and local news video from the day. More to come!

http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Couple_Selling_Personal_Treasures_in_Hopes_to_Bring_Home_a_Treasure_from_Uganda_132835693.html 

Shopping during  the yard sale

Our friend Alex wheeling and dealing

Christa & Jenn AKA "yard sale coordinators"

Kathryn & Jon selling the best cupcakes in the world!

Our friends Jeremy, Julianne, & Norah surprised us from North Carolina!

Jon, Alex, and Jessica helping out