“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.” – Ecclesiastes 11:1

Not long ago, I returned to a church I had visited a year earlier. After my presentation, a lady approached me and said, “Last year, when you spoke, I was struggling spiritually, and God spoke to me through your words. Since then, I’ve been attending this church regularly. Thank you for letting God use you.”

Her words reminded me that nothing we do for the Lord is wasted. Just like a stone tossed into the water creates ripples, our words and actions spread out further than we imagine. Sometimes the fruit appears immediately, but often it comes “after many days.”

This truth encourages me, especially in ministry with children. Some respond quickly to the Gospel, but most of the time the results come years later or even only in eternity. Yet God promises that our labour is not in vain.

Over the past few months, I’ve had opportunities to “cast bread upon the waters” in different ways:

• Teaching at the Children’s Ministry Leadership Course, where 22 students from 15 countries learned about the joy of cultivating a devotional life.
• Translating the series Hope for Hurting Children, which brings comfort to little ones walking through trauma, pain, or loss by pointing them to God’s hope.

I have also been hearing of stories from camps, clubs, and outreach across Romania, where prayers and fasting were answered as children listened, responded, and even publicly acknowledged their need for forgiveness.

In my prayer room, I thank God that in His economy nothing is wasted. Every prayer, every act of service, every word shared in faith, He uses it. Sometimes, like with the woman from that church, He even lets us see the results.

So, let’s keep casting our bread upon the waters. The ripples go further than we think.

-Testimony from a worker in CEF of Romania (Maria)

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