God Really Provides

To be honest, I'm constantly floored by the generosity of everyone involved with NET Ministries. From Diocesan Contact People to host homes to those who donate their hard-earned money, it never fails to show me just how much God really provides when you need Him to.

There have been times in my stint on staff here at NET Canada where we get a little low on funding, and in these times God seems to miraculously provide just the amount of donations we need to get by and do what needs to be done. For the moment I'd just like to tell you about a couple of recent times where I've been completely blown away by people's generosity:

1) For the past few months, we've been asking for rosaries to give out to retreatants interested in learning how to pray this valuable prayer. Since about the beginning of August, our mailbox has been flooded with parcels varying in size from a small envelope with one rosary to a large box filled with approximately 750 of them. In a mere 5 months, NET Canada has received over 4600 rosaries!!
To all of you who've relayed the plea for rosaries and who have so generously sent in your extra rosaries, thank you! Who knows, there could be 4600 students from the ages of 14 to 18 across Canada who will be praying the rosary daily because you've provided them with the opportunity!

2) We have a few team members who haven't yet completed their fundraising. Over the Christmas holidays, we asked them all to speak at Masses when they went home, and to continue to fundraise just to give their totals a little boost. Even those who have completed their fundraising were still asked to speak at Mass, but to tell the parishioners that there were other teammates still needing help. One team member in particular, let's call her "Kyla", was having a bit of a difficult time with her total so a teammate spoke on her behalf at the Masses. I remember opening the mail one day when I arrived back in the office, and I came across a cheque for $5000, written to go toward Kyla's fundraising!! This cheque put her total well above her $6400 goal!
What astounded me more than anything was the fact that Kyla and her teammate are from almost opposite ends of the country, and this generous donor didn't know her at all, yet still realized that the ministry needed the help, and wanted to support Kyla in particular. Praise the Lord for His goodness!

There have been a few times lately where in my own personal life I've begun to falter in my trust and faith in our Lord's Divine Providence. But after seeing these two instances at work, I am becoming more and more confident that He will provide me with what I need all in His good time. It may not necessarily be in the time I'm hoping for, but I know that I'll be taken care of; just like how a father knows what's best for his impatient 3-year-old daughter.

-Jocelyn Arnott
NET Canada Office Assistant

Note: The picture at the top shows Meaghan Boyd with the rosaries we've received, not including the ones that the teams already have with them, and the picture at the bottom shows these same rosaries making the shelf sag under their weight. God is good! And so is Mary!