Blown away by God’s blessing during Self Denial Appeal
BY LAUREN MARTIN
Jose Porcia experienced his first Self Denial Appeal back in 2017 when he was a new Salvation Army soldier.
God had recently saved Jose from an addiction to ICE after spending time at The Salvation Army’s Adele House Recovery Services Centre, 30km north-west of Coffs Harbour (NSW).
Unaware of what the Self Denial Appeal was all about, he asked someone at Coffs Harbour Corps. “It is the week when Salvationists give up one week’s pay, and it is given up for overseas missions,” they said.
Jose was taken aback. He had just secured his first job post-recovery – washing dishes – and was saving up to buy a car. “Surely God wasn’t seriously expecting me to give up one week’s wage when I was saving up for a car!” he recalled thinking.
Nevertheless, Jose made his sacrificial gift of one week’s wage that Sunday at the Self Denial Appeal Altar Service. He was blown away by what happened next.
“The following day,” he remembers, “was Monday, and at 7am, I got a call from my NA [narcotics anonymous] sponsor, who was also my landlord.” He told Jose that he had received a call from a person who had been the recipient of a donated car, but that person didn’t need it, so he wanted to know if anyone needed a car.
“That car served me for the next five years,” Jose said.
Fast forward to 2024, and Jose is a cadet of the 2024 Keepers of the Covenant session at Eva Burrows College. As he prepares to enter full-time ministry as a Salvation Army officer, he takes the lesson in sacrificial giving he experienced seven years ago.
Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous person will be enriched.” For Jose, to be ‘enriched’ simply means to receive gifts that increase him in God’s fruits of the spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He has never forgotten that Self Denial Appeal and continues to give sacrificially every year and in all areas of his life.
To read Jose’s testimony, click here
For more information or to view and download Self Denial Appeal resources, click here
