Hillsborough Matching Grant Challenge 2025

A few weekends ago, some friends and I took a long, hot morning walk at Seven Islands Birding State Park near Knoxville. As we walked along the French Broad River, I felt the “noise” in my heart begin to quiet. The stress and pain I’d been carrying seemed to fly away like the birds around us. I started to really see the peaceful beauty God had placed before me. I noticed the sparkling water, fish stirring the shallow water, butterflies landing on yellow coneflowers, and my friends’ excited voices at each sighting. In that moment, God took the turmoil in my heart and traded it for His peace.

That morning reminds me of how God meets us in our brokenness and that He’s doing the same thing for the girls at Deborah House. At Deborah House, girls who have experienced trauma or severe abuse are welcomed into a safe and loving home. Thanks to the dedicated work of our friends at Missio Link International, each girl receives specialized counseling, medical care, educational support, and the experience of being in a healthy family. Within those walls, security slowly replaces fear, laughter replaces anger, and hope begins to bloom. At Deborah House, as the girls begin to work through the turmoil in their hearts and minds, they are given the chance to experience true peace, the kind that only Jesus Christ can give, transforming their stories from brokenness to healing.

So, the next time you experience peace, I invite you to think of the girls living at Deborah House. During the month of August, Hillsborough Free Presbyterian Church of Northern Ireland is offering a matching grant up to $10,000 for all donations made to MLI’s Children at Risk ministries. Please consider giving during this opportunity, and be a part of God’s transformative work being done in the hearts and lives of children in Romania.