Dear Friends,

Ever had one of those conversations with God about your inability to do something He is asking you to do? Like Moses when God asked him to deliver the Israelites from Pharoah. I used all his same excuses with God about leading WOW and putting on a women’s conference. That’s when God taught me the lesson that it’s not about my ability, it’s about His ability and my obedience (oh how we like to reverse that!)

 A conversation of excuses was going on in my head the morning I set off to at least attend women’s seminar that another ministry was putting on. Approaching the hotel where the event was to take place I noticed that police were everywhere; in fact the gate was closed, no one was allowed to enter and they were escorting the manager out in handcuffs. Then I saw the conference organizers sitting on the sidewalk, panic in their faces, wondering what to do about their conference. Without a moments delay I instructed them to follow me; they could just move the venue to our church, in easy walking distance. That is exactly what  happened. An hour latter our church was filling up with 400 women! The place rocked all day long with powerful worship and a powerful speaker. As she was leaving she said, “Three months from now God’s going to take you to a higher level.”

 Three months later to the very day, we were hosting a women’s conference of our own. Leading up to it I had the opportunities of connecting with women and church leaders from more than 70 independent churches and speak to women at our national convention, calling on them to organize and work together like the dry bones in Ezekiel’s vision if we ever want to see the breath and spirit of God truly give us life.

When the day came for the conference, two wonderful ladies from Jireh Women’s Ministry in the UK spoke at our seminar and can you believe what they spoke about? Moses making all those excuses why he couldn’t be a leader! 

 Carol and Lorraine from Jireh Women traveled with us to Gulu to see how plans were developing for the corporate wedding coming up in December. Jireh has been part of a miraculous provision of 54 wedding gowns for the occasion. Not all the gowns will be used in the wedding but all will be used in bridal shops that will help support women in ministry. Not all the gowns will be used in the wedding, but all will be used to start women running bridal shops as well as strengthen womens ministries in churches throughout Uganda.

 Jireh is one of the primary buyers of paper beads and other crafts that WOW women make. It’s great to see the women proud of supporting their families through the work of their hands as well as contribute towards the work of the church. WOW raised enough from bead profits to purchase land in a village trading center for building a church. There Florence, a single woman pastor, is reaching out in the community through prison ministry, teaching crafts and visitation. (Pray for Florence. I received a call this morning that the pain she has been experiencing is due to endometria and fibroids. Yet nothing stops this dynamic faith filled little lady! She’s planted a plot of tomatoes to support herself; may God yield a bumper crop to pay for an expensive operation.)

 Florence, a 2007 graduate of Glad Tidings Bible College, represents a blend of the work David and I do. It excites me to see possibilities for overlapping our work. The women’s ministry is doing well financially but needs a purpose other than materialistic gain. Glad Tidings Bible College is receiving more applicants than ever but struggling to find the resources to accommodate them and enhance the GTBC program. Would it be reasonable to combine our efforts to better serve the needs of both the women and the Glad Tidings? With God’s leading, this is what we want to try. Bead/craft production can become a way of supporting Glad Tidings as well as WOW.

 I encourage people to buy the beads because the effects go so much deeper that sending a monetary gift. Those beads involve hard work! They represent women learning a trade, learning to market, using their creativity and imagination, becoming honest and responsible, working together, discovering God’s provision and so many other aspects of His nature . . .giving hoping! 

 My vision for WOW in this coming year is to focus on a very noticeable problem among Ugandan women but overlooked and ignored. It is the high number of young unwed mothers. We’ve already begun bringing these young women together to share their problems and work together on them.  Once they find a place of acceptance and belonging, learning practical skills in childcare, relationship building, home management and crafts their hearts easily open to the gospel. 

Sarah Adams