For the past three years, I’ve been a part of Cedarville’s Advancement team, watching God demonstrate His faithfulness repeatedly throughout the One Thousand Days Transformed campaign — specifically through the work of His faithful servants. We believe that nothing is outside of God’s sovereign will. Sometimes, the truth of God’s sovereignty means that we must hold the tension of God’s providence and the mystery of this life with open hands. He does not always give us eyes to see how He is weaving the threads of our circumstances for His glory and our good. But sometimes, God does allow us to witness the beautiful ways He's working for His glory. Here are a few of those moments I’ve been reflecting on. MOMENTS OF GRACE Throughout this campaign, God has reminded us time and time again that He is faithful. Even before the campaign officially began, God was using faithful donors to help set Cedarville on solid financial ground so that a campaign like this could be possible. Some chose to give recurring gifts to Cedarville. Month after month, they made a conscious sacrifice, faithfully giving as the Lord led. God used this beautiful picture of trust to make a real impact in students’ lives and to prepare the ground on which this campaign would be built. Sometimes, God’s providence can be seen in the timing of events, even the ones we would not have planned. The public launch of the campaign was delayed by the pandemic, but the opening of Chick-fil-A, a campaign project, happened at the perfect time to help us navigate the challenges of feeding our quarantined students during that academic year. God watched over us, taking care of what we could never have known to prepare for. Other blessings came from hearing how God has worked through our students’ lives. On the evening of Giving Tuesday 2023, most of the Advancement team had gone home after a long day. Our gift processor was still in the office, making sure all the gifts from that day were recorded properly, when a student stopped by to deliver a $130,000 gift from her parents. Their daughter was learning, growing, and thriving here, and they wanted to be part of the life transformation they were seeing through her. Their meaningful gift in turn fueled other students’ life-changing 1000 Days here at Cedarville. But most of all, God has reminded us time and time again that He provides. During Homecoming 2024, Dr. White shared about his prayer that God would specifically provide funding for the last remaining building of the campaign, the new Academic Center. God answered that prayer in a way we didn’t expect. God had moved in the hearts of a donor couple to gift $15 million toward the project. These donors were already friends of Cedarville and have given generously for decades, faithfully stewarding what God has given them and continually seeking to glorify Him with their resources. We did not know that they were considering giving such a gift, but God knew. He leveraged their blessings and their desire to serve to encourage Cedarville and answer countless prayers. God brought each person of this team to Advancement at the right time to lay the foundation of these buildings where students now study, eat, and live. 16
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