In 2012 I moved as a single woman to Southall, England, to help build an End Slavery ministry. It was my first winter after living in Texas for a few years and Uganda for a time. My coat wasn’t warm enough, and my feet were cold from walking holes through my socks. England has a wet winter, and it chilled my bones.

I didn’t have much money to live on, rent was high, and I had a ministry to fund from what I raised. I remember praying one night about needing a coat and socks, but I didn’t have the money to buy them. It was the first time I truly felt worried about what I should do. I went to sleep that night in tears.

The following day I woke up to an email from a friend. She had donated some funds to me with a note saying she had a dream that I needed a coat but needed help to buy it. When she woke, she sent me the money. So I went out and bought a coat I had my eye on and found that it was on sale for the amount I had in my hand when I got there. Once again, I cried happy tears.

When I got home, there was a parcel on my bed. It was from another friend’s mom. I opened it, and it was filled with socks and vitamins. She sent these weeks before I knew I needed them. And two days later I got a cold… So I needed those vitamins too.

This is a story I reflect on often. God knew I would need these things, that he cared about the little things and provided. As I look at the work, we are doing now. It may seem minor. To feed people, to buy the soap. But these ‘little’ things are not so little when they have had everything ripped from them. They need food to live, warm places to sleep, and they need to be able to wash what little they have.

I am so thankful for those friends. Those little acts of kindness have stuck with me for 10 years now. It’s a story I can look back on and be reminded of God’s care and know if he cared about socks, then he certainly cares about what’s happening now.

As you look at what we are raising funds for, $25 or $40 might not seem like much. But trust me when I tell you, this will stick with them for years. Because when we see that our “small” stuff is cared for, it makes the bigger things less scary.