It is with a humble and loving heart that I am reaching out to you today. If you are receiving this email it means you have been a precious part of our family at some point over the years. I am reaching out to you today with a great need. Many of you are aware of Daddy’s declining health but as his health has declined so has their financial stability. Mother is now his full-time care giver and is home with him to provide all of his meals, help him get up and down and assist with all of his other daily needs. Michael and I knew that things had been tight financially but we were not aware of how bleak the situation was until they reached out to us for help this week. I am coming home tomorrow to help them prepare to sell and list their home. Michael is helping them by making sure their utilities stay up to date but friends they are hurting and would be devastated if they knew we had reached out to you. As a pastor’s wife I am continually grieved that the church does not operate the way Acts 2:45 teaches us that we should. “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and needs they gave to anyone who had a need. With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart.” I am convinced that the heart of the church continues to desire to love and serve this way but our pride and our self -preservation keeps us from being real enough to share these needs and these dark places with one another. Usually we hear of the need after the fact and our response is, “I wish I had known.” In doing so we rob others of the opportunity of being the hands and feet of Jesus. Now let me say, my parents are two of the most humble people I know. They are not prideful. Their desire has and will always be to be the ones who do the blessing. I have seen them bring home a homeless man and allow him to live with them for 2 weeks. They fed him, clothed him, found him an apartment, paid his deposits and found him a job. Daddy once picked up a Chinese man with broken English and his 5 year old daughter who were walking down East University looking for the Health Department. Daddy helped them get this little girl her shots for school, they registered her for school, bought her school supplies and the next morning he picked them both up and took her to her first day of kindergarten. He later helped the man buy a car and the little girl started calling him Papa. Daddy once sold his lawn mower and a deep freezer and gave the money to a gentleman who had a need. One Christmas Eve the Roto Rooter man came to fix a clogged tub and toilet and he left with 2 plates full of food. If you know them, then you know these are not isolated events but just an overflow of the character of their hearts. They have always given and trusted the Lord to take care of their needs. Friends, today they have a real need. They have been praying and spent many sleepless nights and this week they approached their children which I am sure was one of the hardest things they have ever done. I am pretty confident that they will kill me if they find out I have asked for help outside of our family BUT to me YOU ARE ALL FAMILY. If these precious people have been a blessing to you the way they have to Michael and I, we wanted to give you an opportunity to bless them and be THE CHURCH in a very real and obedient way. So this is what I am asking. 1. PRAY – please pray for the Lord to bless them in a way that only HE could and in a way in which only HE could receive ALL the glory. My prayer is that their cup would overflow and there would be showers of blessings only made possible by our great God and King. 2. If you or anyone you know is able to give to the financial need I am setting up a gofundme account for this need. Michael will be managing this and paying their mortgage, power bill and car payment as well as some medical copays. 3. Please pray that their home sells quickly and we make the right decisions about where they need to live. This is a hard move as they have lived in that home for 31 years (rented for many of those years.) Selling the house and moving to a smaller location would lower their monthly cost of living and allow their monthly outflow to match their inflow.

4.  For now please do not mention this to them. There will be a time when the generosity of God’s people will be revealed to them and it will come with great blessing. Right now is a very emotional time and I am afraid it will bring great embarrassment.

 

With great love and humility,

 

Monica Hawkins and Michael Weaver