Generational Impact!

On Friday, January 16th, I wrote about how faithful God is to provide, and I reminisced with you by sharing a picture of four babies that had been born to girls in the Mercy program and were placed for adoption. They posed with me on our land in Nashville which now has two huge buildings on it, but at the time it was nothing but land. I have been blessed to maintain a relationship with a number of our adopted children over the years. Today I want to tell you about Merri. Merri is the beautiful, young girl in the blue and pink dress on the left who has the bow in her hair. That was Merri in 1992, and this is Merri in April 2008 at our 25th Anniversary – today she is 17 years old. She is now taller than me, and I am so blessed to have her in my life. She has such a heart for God, and she loves people very much. Last summer, Merri spent a large part of her summer vacation from school doing volunteer work at our Nashville office – cleaning, stuffing envelopes, and whatever else was needed at the time. She has such a heart to serve. Merri keeps in touch with me often. Just last week I received an email from her telling me that God had put something on her heart that she wanted to ask me about. I have received Merri’s permission to share this email with you.

Hey Nancy! I want to run something by you. Do you think it would be okay for me to write to some of the Mercy girls? If so, are there any girls in particular that you think could just use someone to encourage them? I know that they have counselors they can talk to, and people at Mercy that care about them, but sometimes you just need a friend to say, ''Hey, I've got your back. Everything is going to be okay''. I've prayed about this for quite some time, and I really believe that God has placed it on my heart to just be a friend to some of the girls that don't have anyone. I just wanted to see what you thought. If you don't think it's a good idea, that's totally fine.I love you so very much and hope you're doing well! Have a fantastic day! - Merri

I felt like the best way I could tell you how beautiful Merri’s heart is by letting you read her own words. She is always thinking about others, and quite frankly, I am amazed by her. It blesses me so much that she wants to stay connected to the very place she was born, and the very place where her birthmother received help. There is no doubt in my mind that this ministry has impacted past generations, is impacting the present generation, and will impact many generations to come.