Tim & Lizzy Hodge

February 1998 was when I first heard about Liberty Trust. I was volunteering with TSCF university student mission all year, and was on one of the stands at Parachute Music Festival, promoting TSCF. Kelvin Deal was on the Liberty Trust stand. I thought it sounded very interesting, novel, bold, exciting and godly, but I didn’t sign up as I thought I would soon leave the country, which I did at the end of 1998. But a few years later, I was back, this time married to Liz, and working full-time in TSCF missions based in Lincoln University. Once again at Parachute, this time in 2008, I came across Liberty, and this time, with a baby on the way, we seriously thought and prayed about joining the Liberty whanau, which we did. Since then, we’ve been contributing each month, increasing as funds allowed over the years.

The story of Ruth and Boaz and how it points forward to Jesus is a favourite for many. We too are struck by the hand of God all the way through, in verses like Ruth 2:3, which talks of the very poor Ruth gleaning grain in the fields, and, of all the fields in which she could have gleaned, ‘as it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz’. Like so many other Liberty stories, we bought a house (we ended up purchasing from a Christian couple who were delighted about our TSCF work and very supportive of that), regularly paying our mortgage each month. Then, at the end of 2018, as it turned out, at just the right time, Liberty Trust and Ark Resources got in touch to offer us an interest-free loan. It was the perfect, could-only-be-God timing, as, for a few years I’ve been working part-time with TSCF and part-time pastoring in our local church. Just a few days before being offered an interest-free Liberty/Ark loan, I’d agreed to return to full-time TSCF university student mission, despite my fears around a smaller income. God is immensely gracious and patient with us, and in this instance, ‘as it turned out’, the interest-free loan offer was at just the right time to, once again, convince us of the love and care of our Heavenly Father. 

We are very grateful to God and his people for generosity through Liberty Trust and Ark Resources, and very thankful to Kerryanne from Liberty Trust and Evan from Ark Resources for making the loan application so smooth.  We are greatly enjoying both the stability of a zero rate loan with Ark, and also knowing that the loan balance is rapidly reducing. The timing of all this has increased our faith in God, and made us want to continue contributing to Liberty Trust for future generations across NZ.

In Jesus together,

Tim & Lizzy Hodge.  

19 February 2019