The impact of Jenny’s faith led to the founding of Abba House – an orphanage in Greece. It’s the kind of faith needed to be available – to be willing and obedient to The LORD’s plans and purposes, whatever they may be. This meant pausing an expected path while standing firmly on the faith that His way – His will – is always for the good of those who love Him; who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28, NIV)
Available. That word kept dropping in Jenny’s heart. Looking it up in the dictionary, she learned that ‘available’ meant “to be suitable and ready for use.” Certain that she needed to be available to preach, Jenny went to talk to her boss. “I’m turning in my two weeks’ notice. I need to be available to the Lord, to be suitable and ready for use.” On her last day working in the bookstore, Jenny got a call from her grandparents. “Would you mind coming to our house? We need to talk to you about something.” When Jenny arrived, they said, “Jenny, our nutritionist, Carlo, has to leave the country for visa reasons. We were wondering if you would be available to cook for us.”
The Impact of Being Available
Available. Wait. Instead of preaching the gospel, God was calling her to…cook? She couldn’t cook. All her attempts had turned into weird concoctions. She was not a cook.
“Carlo had a doctorate,” Jenny says, “I was a worship leader dropout. I had no idea how to cook. But my grandparents asked if I was available. I was a little confused, but I told them that I knew 100%, this was the next step God had for me. “I followed Carlo around for a month, learning from him. I soon realized that I wasn’t just cooking for my grandparents. I was also cooking for their guests!
The first week, Keith and Phyllis Moore stayed with them. They were my leaders in Missouri and now I was cooking for them. I had no idea what I was doing. I had to lean on God’s grace all the time.
One of the first things I learned was discerning the difference between when my grandpa was my papa and when he was my prophet. Sometimes, while I was cooking, he poured out beautiful, precious revelations from God. I stood over the stove, weeping. There were other times when the revelation was so great that I didn’t want to miss a word of it. I put the food aside and sat still, listening.
“I didn’t just cook in their home. I travelled with them everywhere they went. I cooked in hotel kitchens and in bathrooms. I not only learned to cook, I gained far more than I ever gave
A Heart for the Fatherless
Jenny’s parents divorced when she was 17, and the Lord revealed to her so much about the Father’s love. She started writing her first book during those years while cooking for her grandparents. The book was written for young people, to help them find comfort in the Father’s love. As she wrote it, she learned so much about the healing touch of a father’s love. The book, Abba: Finding Comfort in the Father After Your Parents’ Divorce, was a first step on a journey to minister to the fatherless.
“God so stirred my heart to love the fatherless that it became a prayer burden. Every time I thought about orphans I wept. I was 23 years old, single and thinking about adoption. It was weird, but I knew it was the Lord moving me to compassion,” Jenny remembers.
After three years of serving her grandparents, the Lord released Jenny to step out into her own ministry. In 2014, Jenny started her ministry, Love to the Nations. Every place she spoke, she asked the pastor, “Is there an orphanage you’re connected to? Are there abandoned children? What’s the orphan crisis like?”
When she asked those questions on a trip to Greece, the answers she received set her heart on fire. “There are many abandoned children because of Greece’s financial crisis and the refugee situation. Parents are dropping off their children and not seeing them for months and months. “What if we started an orphanage?” Jenny heard the words fly out of her mouth before she processed them in her mind.
Abba House is the fruit of Jenny’s faith journey that started with being available – as The LORD directed her steps season after season.
