A Letter from
Maria's Desk
May 2016
His plans
or ours?!?!?
"Who am I, Lord
God…that you have brought me this far?!"
– 1 Chronicles 17: 1-20
"When God’s
timing and design for our lives do not ma tch
our expectations we often get disappointed"-
this was one of the devotional studies I had this month. And I was
wondering at the time, when was the last time when I was
disappointed just because I had too high expectations? And the
answer came very fast: every day!
And very often
it’s because of myself. I like the example of King David, when he
wanted to build the temple. He had the right motives, leadership,
resources, and abilities. Still God said "not you". At that time
he said, "right who am I?"
He could have said lots of reasons why he could, but he valued his
relationship with God more than his ambitions. "The true
satisfaction is found in yielding ourselves to the will of God"
it was the closing of the paragraph and that’s sooo true!
I pray that God
will help us to achieve and understand that!
The same is in the
work place. Many times because of our ambitions we try to
take
control over everything. I’m happy, even though at times it’s hard
to understand, that when I go over the line God sends me
"reminders" of needing to change the course of the things.
Practically? Well,
let me give you a few examples from this past month!
My craft
project . A
year ago when I took it on, I was wondering "for how long I
can carry this?" I’m happy to see that God gives me power,
resources and people to help me move on. What is more amazing is
the way the ladies respond. At the beginning of April I had a chat
to them and I told them that from now on, the ladies that come to
church will be allowed to come to the craft group too. I was a bit
‘scared’ that not many would come. My big surprise was when they
did, and in a big number. I hope and pray that will remain,
because at the end of the day, that’s why we do all the things we
do for them. This past month I had Margaret and Carol
visiting us, and they took the responsibility for the ladies for a
week. It’s always a big help for me to have them around and I
would like to say a big THANK YOU to both of them for everything
they do for the ladies in Tileagd. Be blessed and thank you for
giving up your time to be with us. Can’t wait to have you back!
Rapa project .
Three years ago this community was forgotten
by people. Smiles found them and today there are a lot of people
who
are praying for them, thinking of them, helping them to see their
dream of having a house become reality! In April we had a team
from Gorsley Baptist Church (UK) coming to help us build
house # 4 in Rapa and lay 2 more foundations.
Seven men, very
strong, but with soft hearts, came to share God’s love with the
people of Rapa. THANK YOU guys for everything you did for us. Look
forward to have you back….by then I will try to get my own digger
in
order to make it easier for you!
Towards the end of the month we had a
new container
filled with
goodies arriving in Romania. Amazing. I remember the first
container we had delivered in 2009 from NI. So many great things
in it! I was wondering then ‘will we ever have another one?’ Well
God surprised me each year. Through the kindness of the people in
UK and USA, each year since that moment we have one or two
containers coming to us!! I appreciate everyone’s EFFORT, MONEY,
ENERGY and TIME that they put into making this possible. May God
bless you abundantly! And I appreciate each driver that drove that
big truck! Thank you for your time and effort guys!! BE BLESSED
and thank you for being a blessing for the people of my country.
JFL 1 and 2-
is a project that we
started working on 5 years ago. Initially we planned for a "two
year project". 5 years later we were still working on it. There
were lots of things that I did not understand
why God took us through, but looking now at the final results, it
is more than I can have ever dreamed of. I told you about the
progress as it went along, but this month I loved every single
hour spent on decorating the place, making sure everything is in
the right order.
Mr Hoy was kind
enough to give me his credit card and I was allowed to ‘shop’.
Still he is hoping that I will find people that are willing to
continue covering the cost of the things I purchased! It looks
amazing and I’m really happy with what has been achieved.
If you do not
believe me ... COME to see for yourself!! On MAY 1st
weekend we have the grand opening! Please pray for these days
and for every single person that will be contacted through this
project. For the residents and beneficiaries, for the new staff
and for the leaders. It’s a lot of work going on. And pray for
Georgi Opreanu, my friend and colleague. She will be the one
that will now take the responsibility for this project that I have
been working on for the last 5 years!
So God’s will
is MUCH BETTER THAN MINE!! And I see this over the years in many
ways.
You might w onder,
‘ok what will Maria do now that the JFL is finally finished?’.
Well, this year, Cornel and I will celebrate 3 years of marriage.
And as a gift attached to it, God blessed us with our first
child! Yes, I will be a mummy!!!! So I guess that that will
take up a lot of my time in the coming months!
It is wonderful
and I’m thankful to God for the blessing because I will have time
to think of the new project that is waiting for us in 2017!!!
YES you’ve heard it right! A new project coming! BUT it’s a
surprise and I can’t tell you more right now. Still I ask you to
PRAY for God’s guidance over me, Smiles, and everything we do.
At times I’m
wondering ‘who am I that God brought me so far?’ ….I’m nothing,
but with Him I’m EVERYTHING!!! And for that I give Him praise!!
THANK YOU for
everything YOU ALL do for us! Without you, a lot of the things we
try to do would not be possible! May God bless you and may HE keep
you in HIS WILL!!
Be blessed and
thank you for being a blessing!
With love
Maria
Maria Hava ,
Director of Operations, Romania
maria@thesmilesfoundation.org
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