The It’s A God Thing Team had an amazing worship time with Leonard Jones on Saturday (4/25/15) at Livingston Chapel United Methodist. Leonard and his wife Marie care for 18 children at their Casa Cielo Children’s Home in Honduras. Leonard shared his testimony with us about where God brought him from and where God has him now.
He began his testimony telling about his very difficult home life as a child growing up. He left home as a teenager and later joined the Marines. He was so angry with his past, he had difficulty dealing with military life and was on the verge of being dishonorably discharged. The day before the court martial, he was walking through town and a man came up to him and said “Go to hell”. He was shocked and approached the man. He yelled “Go to hell” again and then he explained that if Leonard didn’t know Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was doomed to go to hell someday. The man began to share the plan of salvation with Leonard and gave him a plan of salvation track to take back with him. Leonard prayed to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. During the court martial, it was decided to give him one more chance. Leonard went back to his platoon and was a completely changed person. He began to share the love of Jesus with the others in his platoon. When he got out, he returned to Texas and eventually married Marie.
He felt at some point that the Lord was calling him and Marie into full time ministry. He told Marie that God was telling him to give away everything they owned (their 5 bedroom home, cars - absolutely everything) and move to Honduras and start an orphanage. They did eventually do this and now they have 18 amazing children in their home. They don’t consider it an orphanage. They feel that these children are their own children and love them just as much as their own three children.
This testimony touched me in so many ways. To see someone who came from such a very hard home life as a child, rebellious as a teenager and young adult, to becoming a full time missionary for God in Honduras by giving away everything and taking these children into his home and caring and nurturing them is really hard to grasp. We think we are giving to the Lord with our tithes and offerings, teaching Sunday School and going on short-term mission trips. Don’t get me wrong - when God calls us to do these things, we should do them with a thankful heart for all He has done for us and thank Him for giving us these ministries. But how hard would it be for me to give away my house, savings, cars and absolutely everything I have to serve Him full time? This takes an incredible amount of trust in God and faith that He will take care of me. Jesus gave up His life for me so I can’t hold anything back.
I would like to ask for prayer for Leonard and Marie Jones as they care for these children. They have a challenging but wonderful mission field with these kids. They need prayer for direction as they raise them up in the Lord, provide for them physically (food, clothes and health care) and also seeing to their education. Can we be prayer warriors/rope holders (Paul when he was at Damascus) for this family? Let’s commit to being a daily prayer warrior for this ministry. If you would like more information on this ministry and also how you might be able to help support them financially, please go to http://www.casaderoc.org/www.casaderoc.org/Home.html - Roc Ministry: Giving faith, hope and love to every child.
