Holy cow!

How two cows are helping to send a missionary

By Amanda Benson , SEND missionary in the Philippines

When the hand of God is at work for the glory of his name, watch out! There’s no telling what he will do!

I thought this during my devotions on one of the first staff days of the school year, back when I still lived in the States. Imagine my surprise when I walked into staff breakfast and talked to a co-worker who told me that she and her husband wanted to give me a cow toward my ministry teaching missionary kids in the Philippines! They had the cow picked out already, and they plan to raise it and sell its calves every year and give the money toward my mission.

I was shocked! Growing up in East River, S.D., and knowing very few ranchers, the idea that God would use cattle to support me never even crossed my mind.

A couple weeks later, after a speaking engagement, I met another man and his wife who also wanted to give me a cow toward my mission. Their young heifer will calve for the first time this spring. He said she is a unique color, and every time he goes out to feed her, he prays for me! Wow! What an incredible blessing.

As I shared this with my parents, my dad said, “The Bible says that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and he has given you two of them.” I’ve referred to this verse, Psalm 50:10, many times when raising support in the past, realizing that if God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, he can surely provide what I need. All we have is his, anyway, and we get the privilege of giving back to him. God is our supplier and provider!

Image credit: By Pos2013 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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