Deuteronomy
28:1-15 speaks that if we fully obey the Lord our God and carefully
follow all of His commands then He will bless you.
We started contributing to Liberty
Trust in the mid 1990’s. It was a new idea for us, even though we had
heard some convincing evidence that the concept would work and had been
successful in Whakatane.
Our future circumstances were
uncertain. We were recent arrivals into New Zealand. Bobby had no work
and was a new immigrant from a blacklisted country, (which brought its own
dimension as we battled through the system). We were newly married and
expecting a baby. Our plans at that time were to return back into mission
work after our baby was born overseas. Home ownership was not on our list.
Yet we felt strongly that joining Liberty Trust was something the Lord
wanted us to do.
Now eleven years on we have three
children Joshua, Joel and Aimee. We ended up staying in NZ and entering into a
different ministry. The Lord spoke to us to open our home for those that
were in need. A friend experiencing severe depression was the first to live
with us. We have since had in our home others struggling with mental
illness, intellectually handicapped, or other behavioural issues. Sometimes
we have had ones just arrive on our doorstep. We haven’t sought out
anyone, but have been called or approached. Currently we have an adult
intellectually handicapped lady and a young teenager with us.
When it came time for us to buy a
home a few years ago, we could confidently purchase knowing that Liberty
Trust would release us from debt well before we retired. Receiving our
Liberty Trust Loan last year has meant that we will save an incredible
amount of time and money paying of a bank loan. We have chosen to set up
another contribution with the goal of our children being able to own their
own homes, something that is becoming more and more difficult to do. We want
our children to be blessed in the same way we have been.
Bobby and Evelyn Aranas
25 June 2007