Courage to Change
A new year, a new sorrow, and a new initiative...
We are wrapping up our trip in America. We spent a lot of time with family on this trip as it was Venesch’s first time meeting them in person. We had a happy reunion, laughing and eating joyfully when our family experienced a great tragedy right before Christmas. My cousin’s wife, Sarah, passed away at just 26 years old. While she married into our family just three years ago, she has been a part of our spiritual family since she was small. I watched her grow up with big curly hair, challenge her youth pastors with questions beyond her years, and become a wife with grace. While we trust in God for Sarah’s eternal soul, her life and death have changed our family. Christmas traditions were changed to mark the grief we feel without her.
I wish I could convey how smart, loving, and funny Sarah was to you so that you may know how our world is less with her not here. Because of her love for the world, Courageous Care is dedicating our new program, Courage to Change,to her memory.
When I was teaching the antenatal class last year, I worked with two moms who were specifically struggling with food insecurity. Despite breastfeeding and being pregnant, they often came to me without having eaten in several days. While we cannot solve all the systemic problems these women face, we want to intervene when we can. Jesus spoke of this kind of need when he told his disciples to love him by caring for the widow and the orphan. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in” (Matthew 25:35).
By joining our support team or increasing your financial donations by $20 we will address this need in partnership with the Zoe Project. The women who come to the antenatal class I teach can sign up to receive 10 meals a week by attending the class. This supports the physical health of the mom and baby as well as guarding against mental health stress on the mom’s brain and the baby’s developing brain.
We are starting the first week in February and currently have the funds for three moms for three-month class. If you would like to increase our reach please click below!
If you have any questions, please ask! We are so glad we get to partner with you in doing the work in South Africa.
Love, Autumn & Venesch