Campaign: Grand Rapids Marathon
Team: Daybreak

Amy Orr

Why do I run?

I am not a runner, but I signed up to run for Hope Water last year. When Bill Clark came to our church to talk about the project, he told his story about leaving an executive position in the auto industry to lead Hope Water and some of the challenges his family faced after he did. He cautioned us that when we make a decision to do something for the Lord, the evil one doesn’t like it and will put challenges in our way to try and stop us. At that time I had no idea how right he was.

A few weeks after signing up to run last year, I received a call from my doctor telling me that they strongly suspected that I had ovarian cancer. Last April, I found myself in an oncologist office discussing my surgical options. Several tests followed - all of which seemed to confirm that suspicion. So after only one training run last year, I went into surgery – not knowing what I would find out when I woke up.

But God is good my friends. I woke up to find out that while I had had major surgery and really made my doctor work hard, the pathology reports all showed that it was not cancer! God healed me.

I spent last summer recovering. Simply walking around the block was a huge accomplishment. But when our church started assembling a team again this year, I knew I had to sign up.

There are 3 reasons why I am running. First, God healed me, and I am saying, “Thank You!” to Him and to everyone who prayed for me and supported me through one of the most difficult times in my life. Second, to show the evil one that he did not win – God did. And third, to bring clean water to people who need it so desperately.

Hope Water is an amazing organization. Members of our church went to Sierra Leone (Africa) this spring and actually saw some of the wells that our church had raised money for last year. And a few weeks ago, two members of our team went there to help with relief efforts. They had had severe storms that caused flooding and awful mudslides. With all of the tragedy we have seen recently in Houston and Florida, I want you to try to imagine that in a place where there is far less infrastructure and even fewer resources to help them recover. Hope Water is going into those places and bringing the people water filters. They go to where the people are and teach them how to use the filters.

The people in Sierra Leone have to walk miles at times to find water. And when they do, that water isn’t clean. Here in America we wouldn’t even feed it to our animals, yet they have to wash with it and feed it to their children. Our team has seen the impact that clean water has made on the villages where HWI has put in wells. It is life changing.

Hope Water brings clean water to people who desperately need it, and they do it in the name of Jesus and share His love with the people while they do it. Will you please help me reach my goal of $1,250 and help the people of Sierra Leone not only receive clean water that will change their lives now but also hear about how much Jesus loves them and impact them for eternity?