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Dear friends, this update is different to the ones you have read before as I will share more than we usually do regarding our personal finances. Often we will be asked how we manage to finance ourselves, people wondering if we are salaried through NDHOP or if we have a business we are gaining income from or does money just appear somehow! We have preferred over the years to avoid these questions where possible, not because we aren’t transparent but because we have clearly felt the Lord instruct us not to share. However after much prayer and listening to counsel from those we trust we feel led to share our financial journey with you.

Firstly we thank the Lord for how he has led us over the past 16 years of our marriage concerning financial provision. When we were first married in 2008 Mary was suddenly unable to work due to ill health and therefore had no income and Jim had reduced his hours to part time to serve at Creation Fest. So what we thought we were going to be in receipt of financially had over-night become extremely different. No longer having 2 great wages coming in we were immediately only receiving a quarter of our anticipated income. Then in 2009 the Lord clearly spoke to us about becoming fully dependant financially upon the Lord. So in response, Jim handed his notice in at work in June and we began serving in ministry full-time with no salary.

Interestingly, without asking a soul, we had begun to receive 2 financial monthly donations.(What a blessing !) By the October of that year, after only a few months serving with Big Blue Box (A Christian events ministry including Creation Fest) We were suddenly redirected by the Lord into a completely new direction.

God had connected us with the North Devon House of Prayer in the January when it first begun, but now he was calling us to serve on team with them full-time. At this point we were expecting our first child, but with much prayer and listening to the counsel of those we trusted, we took a leap of faith and joined NDHOP. They immediately received us onto the leadership team, in fact, they had been anticipating our move to join them! What a joyous moment! Of course this move was another unpaid position but we had such conviction from the Lord it didn’t deter us. During these early years we learnt that the Lord required us to ask Him for our needs and not to ask of man in any way. This of course became a challenge many times in many ways. Our ‘flesh’ at times wanted to make known our request (knowing that if our friends and family knew our circumstances they would most definitely help.) But each time we had a need we asked the Lord and he reminded us that it was just between us and Him at that time.

Those days were especially difficult learning to lean on Him and let Him grow our faith. But the joy when His provision miraculously arrived and time and time again he never let us down! We had to learn to make sacrifices we had never made before but these experiences moulded our hearts and strengthened us to live by faith more and more. All this was a journey the Lord was orchestrating, it was His plan to make us utterly dependant upon him preparing us for what lay ahead.

The trials that lay ahead of us were many and many of you prayed us through those times faithfully standing with us. Mary becoming ill in 2014 was a difficult time for us with 3 small children and then Jim becoming desperately unwell in 2017. By this time we had learnt to hear God’s voice about our daily provision and during these trials it was knowing his voice that got us through. Shortly after Jim began to recover we became homeless in 2018 and it took 20 months before God miraculously provided us a lasting home! (Our homelessness was because no-one was willing to rent us a home with 5 small children, regardless of our excellent references.).

These testing times of having no where to live and 5 small children were the hardest tests of our lives. The love and kindness of many kept us buoyant throughout. The Lord had already spoken to us ahead of time through words about us living on a hill or in a high place and having land as well. All of which we now have due to his kindness!

We continue to lead the NDHOP, raising leaders in worship and prayer and we are excited to continue to serve our community and nation through prayer and worship.

We are asking our friends and family to consider partnering with us in the coming years of ministry as our family grows and our vision for the land God has provided also grows. We hope to help many others in need by providing a safe place to come and recuperate and rest, either for a holiday or short term accommodation. We have already seen many people over the past 5 years since we moved in come and be greatly blessed by God presence, including being healed, baptized and some receiving salvation!

The projects that we anticipate for the coming year involve building works and applying for planning too, all of which have cost implications. We intend to do as much of the work ourselves as is possible as well as using what the Lord has already provided. If you want to discuss these plans with us for more information please get in touch.

If you donate to NDHOP as a ministry we do not personally receive anything from it. We only receive financial provision when it is made directly to us through our stewardship account, bank account or cash in hand. If you desire to give a regular donation or to give anonymously you can do so through stewardship or by giving cash in an envelope address to Mr J Ware and placing it in the offering box at NDHOP.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We appreciate it is very different to our usual method we do not find it a comfortable way to write but obedience is more important to us than how we feel. Please do not feel obligated to give. We continue to wholly trust the Lord for our provision. As always we value your prayers and love for us and thank those who have given and continue to give to us we consider you co labourers with us in all we do!

Every blessing Jim and Mary Ware.