Hello
My name is Julie Seath. I am the founder of Love a Village Mission.
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On this page, I have collected some of my writings that will tell "my story."
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Many thanks for taking the time to visit and get to know my heart.
My Story
I know the Lord has plans for Love a Village. This is HIS story and not mine. In this, I find myself identifying with three people in the Bible: Noah, Moses, and David.
Much like them, I feel out of my league, skill level, and knowledge of what to do. But this actually encourages and empowers me. I believe that feeling incompetent and outmatched actually makes me capable. It leaves me so weak that the only way to go forward is to let God do it all. I haven’t chosen what I want to do with my life and then asked God to help me accomplish it as an after thought. I feel much more like Noah, Moses & David - asked to do something that seems completely irrational and impossible so much so that God receives all the glory in the end. THIS I identify with! I am encouraged because I am forced to fall into His arms of grace and mercy, and trust fully in Him and the leading of His Spirit. Just as these men had to trust fully in God to be able to meet the goal God had chosen for them, so am I going to continue to trust in Him.​​
Noah
“Noah did everything just as God commanded him.” Genesis 6:22
I feel very much like Noah must have felt when God asked him to build an ark. "A WHAT?! How? This job is too big! You're asking me to trust You in this?" And the people, oh the people living around him! They must have thought him crazy when they saw him building this completely massive THING! There must have been days of joy for him, when he saw accomplishments in his building efforts, and then days of canyon-sized lows, when he felt completely incapable and ignorant of what to do next, how it was going to work, or IF it actually WOULD!
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God has called me and Love a Village to do this crazy big project in Malawi, which seems to make no sense. But, I am completely sure of His calling. It is evidenced in the many, many occasions where I can only shake my head and say, "What? How on earth did that happen? It could ONLY have been GOD!" And this feeling has occurred time and time again, each and every year since I first stepped foot onto the beautiful red soil of Malawi. So, because this is His massive assignment, and not something I've cooked up, I have to do it even though it seems crazy sometimes.
Moses
“Look, I am unskilled and inept in speech” Exodus 6:30
God called Moses to free His people. "To WHAT? How many? How Lord? I don't have the words. I don't know what to say. God! I can't do this alone. Help me!" I can identify with the sheer agony Moses must have felt, when I am asked to speak at an event, or write a newsletter, or use my words. I have never had the gift of words. I didn't do well in English class. And, I am an "experience" kind of person. Not a person who can articulate!! "How on earth Lord, am I to convey all that needs to be done? What will help people understand the need and motivate them to help us? I don't have the words or the means Lord!" Neither did Moses. But God equipped Moses to do what He called him to do, and saw it to completion.
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God has called me to articulate as best I can. I rely heavily on the Holy Spirit giving me the words as I write and speak. While in Africa I like to use actions: hugs for the villagers, stickers for the children, bandages for the wounded, and a healthy dose of dancing. But, I've had so many opportunities where I have had to rely on the Holy Spirit to give me the words to say. Words that are His. Not mine. This past October I walked away from my four hour meeting with the Chiefs with my jaw on the floor as I realised the words I spoke were not mine. There was NO WAY I could have come up with what I said. The presence of the Holy Spirit at times like this is almost tangible. It is beyond the words I have to express it. I walk away in awe of our God and what He has said. May His name alone be praised!
David
“… for the battle is the Lord’s.” 1 Samuel 17:47
Each and every time I board the plane in Canada & disembark in Malawi, I find myself identifying with David who offered to go up against Goliath. The job may have looked HUGE, but it felt possible, because of his faith in an Almighty God who could do anything. As a small girl I remember reading "For truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20). When I leave Canada, I leave with great expectation that God will be in Luhomero waiting to work through me. I have no qualms whatsoever at the mighty task of serving 42 villages. God is bigger than poverty. And He can use me if I'm willing. And I am. Just as David was. He knew he could slay Goliath in the name of the LORD! I find myself taking off the armour people try to put on me, just as David took off the armour Saul tried to put on him to enable him to do the task and stay safe. David knew that all he needed was his slingshot and a stone. God had prepared him in advance in very specific ways. All he needed was to trust God. And I too know, with every fibre of my being, that this mammoth task of helping 4000 people can be done! Without all the armour. But instead, with my simple mind, my full heart, and my mustard seed sized faith.
Still overwhelmed
My heart is still overwhelmed at the thought of what needs to be accomplished. I am only human after all, and the job is HUGE. Yet, my spirit is filled with excitement and anticipation and feels like yelling, "Look at me! Look at what God is doing!" But I dare not even begin to think that I deserve attention! Should I even assume for a moment that I can do this in my own strength, I would ask that God take it all away from me! I want to be continuously reminded that it is in Jesus alone that I am able to do His work. It is God who gives me the ability and the resources to do what He asks me to do. It is Him working in and through me. He wouldn't ask me and not equip me. May I be reminded that I am nothing without Him and that I am only a child in His service. And that I don't need the armour of this world like Saul thought David required. May I continue to trust in God's equipping of me: a simple mind, a simple heart, and a simple mustard seed sized faith. Overwhelmed, yes. But equipped with a faith in my Father, Whom I believe can do anything and everything! And He will, for this is His.
The laying out of the fleece
In December I began to feel panic setting in. After attempts to raise funds through Newsletters and media, with some results, I began to feel like I was trying to feed 5000 men, plus women, plus children with only two fish and five loaves of bread. I don't know how to write grant proposals to send to big corporations and philanthropists asking them for funds. Nor do I relish the idea of putting family and friends on the spot by taking each of them out for a coffee and asking them if they would consider supporting Love a Village monthly. I was beginning to panic over the sheer size of what God has asked me to do with the very little funds Love a Village has in the bank. I have even had friends tell me there's no way it will work! My old companion, Discouragement, had come for a visit again.
I began reading George Mueller's book "Answers to Prayer." He is a man who established an Orphan House in England in the 1800s based on prayer and faith. Thousands of prayers were answered and
documented by him. By the second paragraph of page one, I found myself exclaiming, "THIS IS MY MAN!" I identify with him so profoundly! His heart feels like my heart. “I seek at the beginning to set my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own.” (p.11) Like Mueller, I believe the work of Love a Village is God’s, not mine. And I don’t want it to continue if God is not the sustainer. “We either trust in God, and in that case we neither trust in ourselves, nor in our fellow men, not in circumstances, nor in anything besides; or we DO trust in one or more of these, and in that case do NOT trust in God.” (p.19)
Mueller spoke of a time where he decided to not have any public meetings or public reports so that when their needs were supplied without asking people, it would be proof that they depended on the living God alone for their means, and He had provided!
My gut quickly began to feel a nudging that God brought this book to my attention at this exact time to say that this is the way He desires for me to proceed with Love a Village; to trust in God alone, to pray for the funds, to not ask for them, to watch God provide through prayer and faith. And to let my family and friends off the hook of being asked over and over again each year for financial help.
On December 21, 2015, I asked my good friend Pam to be the second person of "where two or more are gathered", and pray with me. To pray specifically that God would show me if this gut feeling was in fact from Him. To see how He wants me to raise the funds for helping the people of Luhomero. I was laying out a fleece and asking God to tell me whether or not to be wholly dependent on Him. Not on myself, or on others, but on Him alone. Which is exactly what my heart longs to do.
Pam and I specifically prayed that God would give Love a Village $1000 from unsolicited sources by midnight December 31st, 2015. The next morning, the 22nd, I had a cheque in my mailbox for $500! On the 24th another two gifts totaling $250 came in. On the 28th another $120 came in the mail and an email saying $75 was being put in the mail. All from people I hadn't asked!! I needed another $55 and only had three days left. The 29th came and painstakingly went. The 30th came and also went. It was during these last few days that fear began to set in. I feared, "What if God is angry that I've asked this of Him - that I have laid out a fleece? What if I was wrong to ask? What if I've heard Him wrong? What do I do now?!" I had been so sure that my gut was right. How could I have been so foolish?! God could take this whole thing away from me. A gift I feel He's given me. He could punish me.
I expressed this to Pam and she calmly and gently reminded me that God has wired me this way. That He knows that I need to hear from Him tangibly. That it was ok. I quickly resorted to my prayer room ... the shower ... and begged God for His forgiveness. I gave Love a Village, and the people He’s given me to care for, back to Him. (I find myself having to do this again, and again, and again.) I settled in my heart, yet again, that Love a Village and the people of Malawi are His. And that all the money in the world is His. He has it stored in people's pockets and He knows exactly which of these pockets He will ask for it to be given from. I submitted myself to His authority, and knew from the depths of my heart that God would be glorified no matter what, even if He were to bring this whole thing crashing down - to an end!
The 31st dawned like every other day. No funds. In my fault-filled human mind, I told God He only had a few hours left. My heart of hearts knew though, that He could provide right up to the last minute, should He choose. And the more I read of Mueller's last minute donations, the more I felt God would teach me something more profound by making me wait. It was noon. The banks would close in four hours. I had my deposit ready to go, with one line open waiting for that last cheque that I just knew God could deliver. I stopped by our PO box, and inside was the second envelope I'd ever received in it. How much would it be? $55? Less? More? Inside was a cheque for $100. The sheer relief and overwhelming feeling of love and grace and mercy from my Father made my heart and my eyes spill over with tears. Right there in Shoppers Drug Mart! My God, my beautiful God! How easy it was to sing His praises now. And after a few days of despair and fear of the unknown. Shame on me. But, with that envelope came another brick on the building God began to build on the foundation at the Launch Party in September. Love a Village is His. The people of Malawi are His. The money to care for them is His. And I am but His unqualified, simple, inept servant, willing to take on the tasks He gives me and to use my mustard seed sized faith to trust Him to move the mountains of not having enough funds yet to accomplish all He is asking me to do. God, I'm ready!!
In choosing to pray and rely solely on God for bringing the funds for Love a Village I, like Mueller, will see that, “the reward [is], of course, the refreshment of knowing these answers had had nothing to do with anything but God’s intervention. How often does the average Christian know that? We are so prone to want to answer our own prayers.” (p.20) And also that many might come to a saving knowledge of Him through witnessing the miraculous proofs of His existence, through provision for Love a Village, without my doing.
I seek to do all that God asks. I pray that He might equip me to do so, that others would heed His call to help Love a Village and that His Almighty name would be honoured and praised as the King of kings and great provider of all!
2015 has been an incredible year for me and for Love a Village! Thinking back on the year overwhelms me and leaves me on the brink of tears. My heart feels like it's soaring above the clouds, as I stand amazed at the good works of our Lord Jesus Christ! My heart overflows with peace, joy, love, and awe for God and what He has done and continues to do. I also feel completely and utterly humbled and overwhelmed by His assignment for me.
I know the Lord has plans for Love a Village. This is HIS story and not mine. In this, I find myself identifying with three people in the Bible: Noah, Moses, and David.
Much like them, I feel out of my league, skill level, and knowledge of what to do. But this actually encourages and empowers me. I believe that feeling incompetent and outmatched actually makes me capable. It leaves me so weak that the only way to go forward is to let God do it all. I haven’t chosen what I want to do with my life and then asked God to help me accomplish it as an after thought. I feel much more like Noah, Moses & David - asked to do something that seems completely irrational and impossible so much so that God receives all the glory in the end. THIS I identify with! I am encouraged because I am forced to fall into His arms of grace and mercy, and trust fully in Him and the leading of His Spirit. Just as these men had to trust fully in God to be able to meet the goal God had chosen for them, so am I going to continue to trust in Him.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I'm not going to be able to compete with some of the crazy and creative ways people are able to raise funds - funny videos, inspiring stories, new fads, go viral! I would be spending too much time trying to figure out creative ways to "get people to donate". I’d much rather spend that time on the people in Malawi.
Does Love a Village need your ongoing help? Yes! Plain and simple. Yes! It will always need help. For as long as there is someone hungry or homeless or in need in Malawi, financial help will be necessary.
The purpose of this letter is simple. I am asking if you would take some time to pray. To lift the people of Malawi before God. To join me in asking that God provide Love a Village with enough funds to provide them with their basic needs and help them towards a life that is independent and self-sufficient. Their needs are as big as needs can possibly get. They are people who survive solely off of what they grow on their land. Currently there is only one other organization working in their community, helping them in small ways. They are the poorest of the poor on this planet. They have no hope and they need help.
Maybe it's your help God is seeking. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's someone else that you know who could help. But, this is not something I can decide for you. Nor is it something I want you to feel I am asking you for. I can't keep asking. None of us wants that. And I'd much rather you not feel pressured into giving, but give if you've heard God's call to do so.
I fully expect that much like Mueller, I will be watching the Lord meet the needs of the Villagers day by day. I don't anticipate an easy journey where all that is required will be provided before hand. I expect the Lord to regularly test my faith even as He answers my prayers. As difficult as waiting can be, I am ready. There's nothing better than God's perfect timing.
Thank you for reading this to the end!
Contact us: loveavillage@yahoo.ca