How we got started in the ministry.

I love to tell our story. It is a story about how the Lord grew our faith, but I have been reluctant to write about it....why....because sometimes it is hard for me to convey tone in written word. So let me start off by saying this....EVERYTHING that resembles faith in our lives is from the Lord.....this is not a story about how awesome Eric and Michele Helms are...on the contrary....it is a story about the Lords faithfulness. I also want to say that there are so many who have sacrificed SOOOO much. Many have literally given their lives for Christ and many many missionaries have given up all their "worldly" goods to go and serve the Lord in countries of great poverty or persecution....in comparison.....we have NO sacrifice!

I started thinking that the Lord was calling Eric into ministry about 6 years ago....I didn't say anything because you have to be God called and not mama or wife called! 5 years ago Eric started expressing, much to his disbelief, he thought the Lord was calling him to some type of ministry. Now don't misunderstand.....he wanted to serve he just couldn't believe that the Lord would use him...he felt very unworthy....at the time he had been saved for 16 years out of a life of being a "thug"....as he describes himself....It took almost 9 months before Eric surrendered to the call to serve full time.

Oddly enough I thought that he would surrender and then suddenly all these doors would open....that is not the way that it happened....I will blog on that another time....needless to say my type A personality was put to the test!!!

While we were not sure exactly what the Lord wanted us to do...we knew what we were not supposed to do.....we did begin to pray that the Lord would make our path clear. While Eric continued to work his full time job in the corporate world we started getting everything ready....we decided on a name...Driven to Encourage Ministries...and we started getting all the legal stuff in order. It was a HUGE amount of research and work...but all along the way the Lord brought just what we needed to get the task accomplished!

We then started praying about how we were going to pay the bills......again my plans were very different than the Lords....His way required much more faith and dependence on Him???? Funny how He is about that??? Eric has such an awesome captivating testimony...I thought that churches would start calling wanting him to come and share with their people and we would get paid for that....but that was not the plan for us....God started opening doors slowly for Eric to mentor young men..which he loves...and also he started having the opportunity to share his testimony to some really small youth groups and Bible studies.....there was NO money coming in and Eric was still working his full time job. We both knew that he was supposed to quit....our only debt is our house and it has quite a bit of equity but it is small...with a small payment...we couldn't rent cheaper...so we didn't feel that we were supposed to sell it but we did entertain that thought.

After much much prayer...we decided to move all our retirement money over to an account that we could use.....it was not very large but after taxes and penalties we knew we could live on it for 18 months or longer if other money came in....so Eric put in his notice...............more tomorrow!

Faith

Do you ever remember being told to never pray for humility because God may give you something to be humble about?? I have been praying that the Lord would grow my faith. I want to have such faith in Jesus that it is never an issue weather or not I'm going to trust Him.

If your child comes to my house and stands at the top of our steps and my husband tells them to jump to him....there is going to be hesitation...but not with my kids...why....because they trust him...he has never dropped them.....he is dependable....he is strong....they KNOW him. Your kids do not know him so of course they are hesitant!

I don't want to be hesitant with the Lord!!!! And yet I still find myself standing at the top of the stairs saying things like...are you sure...now.....it looks scary...I know you have caught me before but are you telling me to jump again??...I don't think I heard you clearly, could you say it again about 20 times!!....and sometimes sadly I just stand there and cry or sulk!! :( Does this mean that I don't KNOW Him well enough?

We have some ministry opportunities coming up and we are going to have to trust Him in a big way for provision. Here is a teaser....Eric is talking with an organization that wants him to go to another country for 10 days and be a part of a team that will be speaking in 200 public schools. These things are expensive.....God is able to supply...are we supposed to go......what about the other opportunities....are we supposed to do them? Please pray for us. I am going to pray for wisdom!

Christmas Blessings

Oh how I love Christmas!!! We are so very excited around here. I wanted to share with you a real blessing for our family. We received an anonymous package in the mail the other day and it contained $50 gift cards for our entire family to our favorite places and even some fun entertainment cards. What a fun blessing! We of course started brainstorming about who it could be??? We have so many generous friends in our lives but only a few of those who would know where to buy the gift cards specifically. The last 2 years have been amazing ministry wise but they have been full of major sacrifices especially for the kids..it was fun to see their excitement!

Here is where my hearts delight came.....we have taken 3 of the children out to use their cards and all three used their cards to buy for others??? They were so excited to have their "own money" to spend on buying presents. I was very overwhelmed! So to whoever sent the cards...Thanks from the kids and thanks for allowing them to bless others!!!

Hard things!

Above: Eric always has the football players join around players who are new believers and pray for them.
Above: Eric in the gym with some of the guys he mentors...they work out....pray.....do Bible studies...and build relationships!
Above: Eric encouraging a young man after he prayed to receive Christ.
Above: Eric spoke to 80 kids at a local public high school...there are the 19 that raised their hands saying that they wanted to give their hearts to Jesus!


God is moving and so much as Eric speaks! We are so amazed, honored, overwhelmed, excited(I could go on and on with the adjectives) that the Lord has chosen to use us! Many doors are still being opened for Eric to speak and share...especially in public schools...crazy!!!!.....but we have to feed our family! For those of you who do not know me personally.....we have not overextended ourselves financially.....we live in a small home....especially for 7 people....drive "paid for" need repair cars....we are thrifty.....not poor.....just really thrifty!!! We have tried to be in a place financially that would allow us to serve without that burden. And still we do have to have money.

Eric is looking at the possibility of moving into a bi-vocational position......which is fine....he is an amazingly hard worker....but it also means going part time in ministry work! So here are my struggles in no specific order :) ....................Which ministry opportunities do we cut? If God is opening these doors(and we believe that He is) why isn't He supplying for the finances? Are we missing Him somewhere? Is He trying to grow our faith? How much more do we need? Should I get a job?...that is a paying job :) Why can't a wealthy business man just underwrite the whole ministry??? Now that would be an easy fix!! That usually isn't how the Lord works....now we are back t the growing our faith question?? :)

You know...I really do not think it is a faith issue...it is a "knowing" issue. I'll explain...If miraculously....Jesus could come for dinner tonight,,,you know in person....and we knew beyond a shadow of a doubt..."You are right where I want you! Trust me! When you need it it will be there...and not a moment before you need it" I really could walk there! We have been walking there! I can wait expectantly to see how He will provide for every need. It is that nagging doubt......"Does He want us to do something different" "Something more" "Is there a different way????"

This is where I struggle! Does this make me weak in the faith? Feels like it! Does it mean we are growing? Maybe. So I am asking my blog friends to pray for us! Pray for wisdom!!!

New Picture

We had some new pictures make for some promotional work we are doing and oh my goodness...my husband is amazing and I love these pictures. Thought I would share!

Recovering!

My baby girl is recovering from her accident. We are very thankful that her pelvis is not shattered! She is really really stiff, but she is now up and walking with a walker. Lindsey set her up with our laptop so she could watch a movie and she received many phone calls! Our family dog is not really the family dog.....he likes all of us but he LOVES Emily. He has been especially attached to her while she is recovering. It is odd...like he senses that all is not normal. You can see him draped across her legs. Thanks for praying for her! Some of you have emailed and asked if she will ride again........do fish swim??? This was a freak accident...she loves horses. She is really good with horses and she is counting down the days until she can get back...which will be a while!

Eric and I are so excited about this conference! We have so many amazing sponsors. This is a free event here at our home church..First Baptist Woodstock for middle and high school kids. We are amazed at the doors the Lord is opening! Please pray for us!

traditions

I know that I say it all the time but I can't seem to say it enough...I love traditions and so do kids! If you want to be amazed start asking your kids about Christmas last year....do not say anything about presents just ask them what they remember about Christmas last year. Unless they received a significant gift or they just happen to remember crazy details....they will most likely have forgotten all about the gifts that you spent so much time and effort and STRESS on! They will remember the traditions of baking or parties or grandparents! I remember very few of the gifts that I received as a kid but I have vivid memories of the traditions! What about you? If that is the case shouldn't we put a little more effort into enjoying the traditions!

This weekend we went to my moms to celebrate Christmas with her....she just lives a mile from me, and my sisters live 7 and 9 miles away but we all spent the night with my mom and dad....all 20 of us and 3 dogs! Yes it was nuts! Yes it was great fun. We sat up last night playing spoons. Great fun but it was wild and noisy and a great memory! We woke up this morning and Eric read the story of Jesus' birth and then we opened gifts and ate an enormous breakfast. We spent the day playing games..taking naps..and cleaning up.

Eric...yes my husband..set this little thingy up, by himself while watching the game...boys never grow up. I love it! We had a wonderful time making memories.



Love those babies!

Saving Dogs

I was watching the news tonight while I was clipping coupons....exciting huh???? I live in Georgia and there was a story about a man who beat his dog almost to death and a neighbor found the animal and took it to the vet. There was apparently a huge outpouring of support money wise to help pay the bills. The very pitiful dog was leaving today to go home with it's new owner...cameras catching the whole thing. Then a story about the owner who is now in jail for beating the dog.

OK...I love my dog and I feel for the animal...they should not be beaten. But what in the world is wrong with our society that lets babies be murdered in their mothers wombs and even born and left for dead as seen here, and we are silent but for a dog there are cameras and an outpouring of sympathy. Come on Christians we need to make some noise and stand up for these injustices!

Love those Babies!