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About ten days ago I broadcasted a blog post via email and Facebook titled Restoration. You may have read it.
In the blog post, I openly wrote of how dark and painful the past 6 months have been for me. I told of the costs of ministry on myself, my family and the LeaderHeart team. These costs have been spiritual, emotion and financial. Although it is hard to quantify physical and emotional losses, the financial cost to us as a family, and to the ministry, was around $20,000. When I wrote the letter, it was crunch-time. We needed a miracle to reach the goal… and you smashed it. To date, $23,211 has come in. THANK YOU. So many people gave. We are so grateful.
I ran into an old friend yesterday who had read the article and had kindly given towards the appeal. He commented that we rarely see Australian men write with such vulnerability. It took me a while to consider - but he was right.
What I wrote was honest, and I wouldn't take a word back. I can’t help think of the 50+ emails and messages that came in from people who confessed they were going through a dark season too. People who spoke of their loss and hardship too. Many of them were relieved to know they were not alone. As was I. And you know what? That’s a valuable lesson for me in all this; that we are not alone. You see, I think it’s hard to 'experientially know' we are not alone unless we risk being open about our suffering and struggles. I say ‘risk' because any vulnerability holds with it a significant risk of further pain - but it also gives others the chance to move towards us in love and compassion.
So, friends, thank you for moving towards us. Thank you for your generous donations, prayers, letters and messages. Thank you for those who gave beyond the goal (it helps us move forward). Thank you for believing in us, and the healing work LeaderHeart does.
David Tensen
*Reference: http://www.davidtensen.com/restoration/
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