“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10
My name is Christina and this is the story of how God is using an ordinary person to do extraordinary work: I am a wife of 40 plus years and mother of four grown children. We live ordinary lives in a small agricultural community. I worked as a Certified Pharmacy Technician for eighteen years when God called me to quit my job and said, “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19). I did not understand what God was asking of me, or what His plan was for me at the time because it just didn’t make sense financially to quit my job, but obediently, I did.
While waiting in transition to see what God’s plan for me was, I worked part time as a waitress. One day while going through the coins I had as received as tips, I realized that I had a lot of pennies. As I rummaged through the change, I just could not imagine what to do with all those pennies. Earlier that week I had watched a video of children who were in an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. That video of all of Gods children, living in such poverty and starvation broke my heart; none of Gods children should have to live this way. But what could I do? I was just a ‘retired’ Pharmacy Tech working part time as a waitress.
As I continued to rummage through the mound of coins, complaining to myself about all those pennies, God spoke: “‘Pennies for Poultry’… feed my children.” At first I brushed off the words and continued to separate out all those copper coins, but God repeated it again 2 more times before it sunk in just what God’s plan for me was. Yes, me; just a waitress, living an ordinary life, who had raised 4 children who were in 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America), who raised chickens as their projects. As a mom, I went to poultry judging competitions and helped the kids with their chores when they were not home. Little did I know back then that God was preparing me with the knowledge I would need later in my life not only to help feed and educate God’s children around the world, but to teach them a life skill through the purchase and care of chickens.
I believe we were created by God, for a purpose in life to do His work. God’s plan for me was to use what I had learned through raising my own children, so that years later, when they were grown, I could help feed God’s children around the world through His vision of Pennies for Poultry. So if God can use someone like me to make a difference, He can also use you.