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Are Your Needs Being Met?

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CBN partner Ellen Bergman of Branson, Missouri is a people person.  In her younger years, that passion helped her get elected to the state legislature.

She recalls, “I hit every door, and I remembered saying, ‘If they like you, they'll vote for you.’ And that's really what it amounted to. Ran three times and won three times.” 

Her husband Paul was her biggest advocate, but he lost his battle with cancer in his fifties.  That left Ellen to manage everything alone, including her finances.  

Paul took care of the bills.  "I wasn't the one going around, ‘Well, how are we going to pay this?’ I just didn't want to be bothered with it," Ellen recalls. "Well, I had to be bothered with it after he died. And then it began to overwhelm a little bit.”  

The Bergman’s had tithed at church and occasionally donated to other organizations.   Now as a widow, Ellen wasn’t sure she could keep giving like that.

She says, “I did think those thoughts, ‘Whoa,’ and it was after he died, ‘Well, I'd better pull back here.’”

But those thoughts were short-lived.  And instead of cutting back her giving, she chose to increase it.

“And I just thought, ‘That's it.  I’m not going to stop any giving.’ And I know that God will bless it, and He'll take care of all of my needs, according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus,” Ellen shares.  “And I have to really rely on that verse a lot, that God is still the same God, and He is a husband to the widow, the Bible says.”

In the midst of her loss, she helped CBN build a well in India to honor her late husband, Paul.

She explains, “When they started showing all of these examples of what they were doing overseas, boy, I knew that's the place to plant your seed. Because it's going to cover everything. And if you're not interested in all the world, there’s still plenty going on right here in our country that’s helping many many people that really need it, and they’re out there, that Operation Blessing is out there.”

Today Ellen continues to make giving to CBN a priority, and God continues to take care of her.

“I just can honestly say He has met all of my needs. If you will tithe and do what the Word says, you're pretty much going to be protected,” she confidently concludes.  “God has been faithful, that's all I can say is that He's been faithful!”

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About The Author

Cheryl
Wilcox

Cheryl Wilcox is a 700 Club Producer.