Right People, Right Place, Right Time

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Over the years, God’s timing has never ceased to amaze me with how He sends the right people to the right place at the right time! There is nothing better than locking arms with people who truly have aligned passion and vision!
Exactly four years ago, Fellowship Bible Church in Jackson, Tennessee hosted the first ever stateside Hope for Her event at their church and I met Fran Thomas. Fran is one of the founders of
. She was such an encouragement to me the day I spoke at the event and we both walked away with amazement of how the Lord brought two complete strangers together that weekend whose hearts beat the same for girls of all ages.
I remember inviting her to join me that year but with the unrest in Haiti and then Covid, we lost track of one another until this month. Little did we know that the Lord has been working in a very specific way to prepare many of us over the past four years to work with girls and women in the DR!
Fran and I met back up in the DR two weeks ago, almost four years to the day of us meeting in Jackson. Fran and the cofounders of Heart of Whimsy traveled with a team from Fellowship and brought 100 Whimsy dolls to distribute through one of our local partners who also has the same heart and passion for girls of all ages! With the help of Milca Abad, the principal of CEFIC school, the Fellowship volunteers, and the Heart of Whimsy team, 81 girls, teens, and moms attended this event and learned about their identity in Christ through a Bible lesson, games, crafts, and even coloring pages that were full of scripture. Through a beautiful and simple little story about Whimsy, these girls could relate to what it is like to struggle with anxiety, sadness, loneliness, peer pressure, and sin, but they were reminded that they are created in the image of God and no matter what happens they are chosen, worthy, and loved by God.

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I sat back in awe of seeing the Lord’s fingerprints all over this story! The excitement of how this all came together is too much for just me to share so I have asked both of these amazing leaders to share with you what this Girls’ Day meant for them.

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From Fran:
What an absolute joy to be a part of Girls’ Day with Mission of Hope and Milca from CEFIC. The school was a fantastic place to host this ministry event and the girls who attended were incredible and eager to learn what we shared with them! No matter where you are on this planet, girls want to be seen, valued, loved, and known in the healthiest of ways. It was special to be able to bring our ministry, Heart of Whimsy, to these girls that day. Their sweet faces, regardless of age, understand what it’s like to look for their identity in a world that won’t last or fulfill them. As girls, we often search for our worth from everyone and everything but God Himself. How things would be different if we could begin to understand our identity in Christ from an early age. Regardless of what life has brought us, by choice or by circumstance, our God loves us no matter what! Your life matters and has value to the Kingdom of God! Our identity is secure in Him, not the things of this world that seem so tempting and satisfying at the time. We believe we planted and watered seeds that day and we are trusting the Lord to bring forth fruit because His Word does not return back to Him void. Isn’t He so kind and gracious to us, always? No matter what, the Lord is always good to us.

From Milca:
Girls’ Day was a response to a great need that we see daily with the girls in the community. They were impacted with wisdom, and the delivery of the message was very precise about the importance of looking at the inside and not focusing on the outside appearance. The girls were excited at everything they were able to do, an atmosphere of harmony and peace was felt, even when there were about 80 girls of different ages and nationalities.

At the end, the delivery of the Whimsy dolls with the great Biblical message they represented, was a great surprise for them. We achieved the objective that was pursued, to help girls understand their value in Christ. Thank you very much for your support; I am surprised at the wonders that God is doing through Mission of Hope.

We look forward to continued partnership with Fran and Heart of Whimsy and to see what the Lord has for girls in the DR as Women's Empowerment continues to expand and work together with the local church. This is an amazing first step and shows the desire and need to help train up young girls to be amazing leaders in their homes, schools, and communities. Please continue to pray that the Lord sends the right people to the right place at just the right time!

Vanessa Johnson on Jul 31, 2023

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