A Time for Thanksgiving
Walking around these walls
I thought by now they'd fall
But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle's won
For You have never failed me yet
Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I'm still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You've never failed me yet
I've seen You move, you move the mountains
And I believe, I'll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I'll see You do it again
We just got back from the mountains of Colorado and this song by Elevation Worship rings in my head when I think of the beauty we saw and the Hope 139 House. Along the journey of opening this women’s home, I have faced many roadblocks and difficulties. At times I asked God to confirm that He wanted me to continue on this journey because it was just too hard for me to carry on myself. We found the perfect property at the start of 2019 and have worked for months to get the renovation plans completed based on the state regulations and county codes. It was three buildings on 1.6 acres and a great location, with a relatively affordable price. Our architect did a beautiful job of working with the existing structures to fit our needs. We met with the county multiple times on their schedule to be sure we were headed in the right direction. I talked with the Department of Human Services to be sure we were on track. Then about 2 months ago, we were hit with new information- a rezone on top of the planned development we had to submit. The rezone changed everything. After more meetings with the zoning department, residents in surrounding neighborhoods, commissioners, and the county attorney to clarify our plans and zoning requirements, it was determined that the property would not be approved for our purposes. We terminated our contract. I was very disheartened and discouraged. I began praying for a miracle of confirmation to continue on, and reaching out to partners to see if the need was still there.
But God was working the whole time.
Our architect set a meeting with the planning department to determine what our next steps should be. Once there, a developer he had another meeting with later that day showed up too early, so he asked him to sit in the Hope 139 meeting for advice. The head of the planning department confirmed again that our former property would not be approved, so our architect started asking what type of property they would approve and what he suggested, since we were having a hard time finding anything zoned what they required that didn’t cost a fortune. He told our architect and the developer that something like the former People of Hope project would work. Neither of them were familiar with that property, so they looked up the address. The developer then realized he owned that very property! As they talked they realized it was already zoned the required RM1, had a retention pond, sidewalks, was on the bus line, and had a parking lot. All the zoning and infrastructure requirements we were told we had to have, with a clean lot to build exactly what we need. The developer felt a strong urge that he was being lead to give us part of his 17 acres. As things progressed, he has now decided to DONATE all 17 acres to Hope 139 House!!!! Praise the Lord!!!! How exciting that God’s timing of hearing a lot of ‘no’ answers after we thought we’d been on the ‘yes’ track, led to a chance meeting that happened to have the right people there at the right time to find out about a property sitting ready to build on, in a great location for our purposes, AND it was formerly called People of Hope but was never developed?!?!? The former People of Hope project will now be the the Hope 139 House project. On 17 acres! Now it will be developed as a retreat for these women and their children, and we can have a whole other ministry to the neighboring community. How much better are God’s plans that our own! Talk about answering my prayer for a miracle and confirmation and moving mountains! I’m still amazed!!
The next mountain we have to climb is that of fundraising and building. It seems insurmountable to me but God always proves me wrong. We’re redrawing plans to fit us perfectly. Please pray for guidance in that. We will need all kinds of things from land clearing to every part of construction. Rooms furnished. We’ll be launching a capital campaign to cover all of our needs through monetary and in-kind donations. We will soon be looking to hire staff to begin training and be part of the building process.
If you’re looking to give on Giving Tuesday or year-end gifts, we have several options for you. We can accept cash, credit cards, PayPal, donor advised funds, stock, and real estate. We need monthly donors and one time donors. We have beautiful short and long sleeve t-shirts available for free when you sign up as a monthly donor or also for purchase. These are great marketing for us, super soft, and would also make great Christmas gifts! Please consider us in your giving as we have a lot to raise to cover our building and upcoming operating expenses. I’d love to meet with you personally if you’d like to see more of our plans and goals. We need all of you to build this home! It’s a team effort and we invite all of you to join with us, just like this developer did, to bring this home to reality for the women and children that are brought to my attention a few times a month in need of the services we will provide. Together the mountains will move!