Mothers making and selling necklaces.

They raise children, tend to household chores, heal wounds, provide stability for families, educate the next generation, listen to dreams, pray for the sick, work to provide daily sustenance, laugh with the joyful, love tirelessly… I am grateful for my mother. She gave and sacrificed much for the sake of our family.

The mothers that I meet in Africa matter, too. Their lives are difficult. Yet they give and sacrifice just like our mothers do. 

From my most recent trip to Cote d’Ivoire to train people for community transformation, I met Bertine. She is a dynamic mother caring for her children and grandchildren in one of the poverty infested neighborhoods of Abidjan. Two years ago she caught a vision for transformation to come to her community.  She prayed about what she could do to make life better for all. After some searching, she learned how to start a neighborhood savings and credit association. Her conviction was that if the people pulled together to save of their meager income, they could create an investment fund.  With the pooled resources, they would be able to work to make their community better. Today, 2,000 people participate in a community credit association run by Bertine and her team of 10 others. Jobs are being created. Children are being immunized. The schools now are filled with students. Unity and trust is being fostered among the citizens. Churches are becoming self-supporting. Crime is declining. Bertine matters.

This month thank mothers for the enormous role they play to make life better. And if you are able, contribute to an organization that strengthens mothers to impact impoverished communities in ways that will never be reported in our newspapers. Mothers matter!

 Gary Edmonds

Our objective is to move some 15,000 men, women and children out of vulnerable and destitute poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.  We will impart knowledge, skills, attitudes and relational connections to help them achieve this goal.  With God, this will happen in the year to come as the darkness is pushed back in the communities of these lovely people. 

 Thanks for standing with us as we build leaders to rebuild communities. 

Yours truly,

 Gary & Tricia Edmonds
Kevin and Renee Napiér

In 18 months, I’ll be 60.  I’m old enough to know better, but I still use a four-letter word so frequently I don’t even know I’m saying it.  Forgive me.  When I pause to think about it, my misleading speech must make God wince, but it’s so ingrained in my thinking, my speech, my daily talk that I feel it nigh on impossible to stop.

In my weaker moments, I want to blame it on my family and friends.  They all say it.  My 89 year old mother still says it, as do missionaries, Sunday School teachers, evangelists and good Christians around the world. So what hope is there for me?

Frankly, when I do catch myself, I tend to move on, failing to apologize or repent.  Gratefully, grace is at work and the Spirit still convicts. 

The word is “mine.” I talk about the house in which I live, the lap top on which I write, the car I drive, the clothes I wear – as mine.  Mine?  Hardly. 

Truth be told, I own nothing, but I’m constantly tempted to act as though I do.  At best, I’m an undeserving manager, given charge – for a while – over little or much. 

Guest Blogger: Randall E. Davey, President, accruWealth (www.accruWealth.com)