Is God asking you to say yes?

by Beth McLain

“There are people who watch what happens, people who wonder what happened, and people who make things happen.” Two years ago, I watched my nephew graduate from high school and heard his principal say this during commencement. I’ve reflected on it ever since. I knew exactly what I’d been watching others do and putting off myself.

For years, I’d wanted to go on a mission trip to Africa. It had been on my heart since I was a child, and in 2020, I finally had a plan in place. Then Covid happened, the trip was cancelled, life moved on, and I found reasons to watch others go instead of acting myself. Six more years passed before I finally said yes.

This summer, God opened the right doors at the right time. The timing, funding, destination, and purpose aligned. The thought of going all the way across the world alone was scary, but who was I to deny what God was making possible?

I traveled to Eswatini with Heart for Africaopens in a new tab, an organization I had supported since 2019. For 20 years, they’ve created a home for hundreds of orphaned and abandoned children, providing education, loving care, and, most importantly, a foundation in Scripture and the knowledge that Jesus loves them. I wanted to see their work in person and contribute my own time and energy.

Sign in the classroom where we taught VBS.

During the trip, we led a mini VBS, teaching songs and Bible verses, playing with the children, and spending time with them. We also traveled into rural communities and visited homesteads where grandmothers care for children while their parents travel to other cities for work, often returning home only on weekends or after several weeks away. Some families live in simple brick buildings with one bed to share. Cooking happens outside over a wood fire. Getting clean water can mean walking two miles.

A homestead kitchen.

One Sunday, we visited a church in a rural community. Most of the people there were children. They had walked miles down dirt roads, some carrying their own chairs, many without an adult accompanying them, because the church feeds them physically and spiritually. During the service, they stood and sang songs thanking God for what He had provided and recited Bible verses from memory. When food was distributed, I watched children receive an orange and an egg with gratitude. When the church took an offering, even children who had almost nothing gave what they could.

James 2:5 speaks of those who are poor in the world being “rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom.” In Eswatini, I saw those words lived out in front of me: grandmothers walking two miles for water, a 10-year-old carrying her baby sister to church, children giving from what little they had. I went expecting to find ways to support this ministry. Instead, I came home with a different perspective on faith.

For years, I watched and waited; this summer showed me how important it is to take the next faithful step and make things happen.

In my role at NCF, I’ve watched givers recognize a cause God has placed on their hearts and move from caring about it to acting on it. Ten days in Eswatini made that connection come to life. As part of NCF’s Giving Strategy™, we encourage givers to consider the causes and passions God has placed on their hearts and ask whether their giving reflects what matters most to them. Now I find myself asking the same question: What has God placed on my heart that I haven’t acted on yet?

My experience in Eswatini has shown me what can happen when we stop putting off something that has been on our hearts and take a step toward it. What causes has God put on your heart? Does your giving reflect them? Where might God be opening a door for you? Contact our team to explore how your giving can more closely align with the passions God has placed on your heart and take the next faithful step to make it happen.