If anyone is wondering "where is the fruit of our labor?" here is some:
1. Brenda-a prostitute God put in our path. When we found her beat to a pulp, we sent her home with Georgia from Revelation House. She is now no longer wanting to be on the streets, she goes to church & has a job cleaning apartments.
2. Shirley-was living under the overpass with no place to go when we befriended her. Now she has someone who is paying for her a place to stay until she gets her cancer surgery & then is paying for her rent until she recovers & can go to work.
3. Michael- has been to the breakfast for over a year, is now living under the overpass. We introduced him to Georgia & her husband Devin found him a job. He also has been given a house to live in & will be moving from the overpass to the house this Friday.
4. Robert-has been under the overpass for a few weeks. We brought him to church & he went to the altar. The following week he was back with a totally different countenance about him. When I dropped him off under the overpass after church a lady came & offered him a job as handyman at her hotel where he gets his own room.
I'm sure I am forgetting someone & I know there will be people we have reached out to that we will never know what kind of difference we made in their lives until we get to heaven.God is leading us & guiding our steps. Everyone we come in contact with is ordained by God. Our steps are ordered of the Lord-Prov. 20:24
I am so grateful that God allows me to serve with such an awesome team that has the heart of compassion for the homeless that God has. We do not fear what man can do to us because we are obedient to God. We know that these precious people sometimes just need someone to listen to them, give them a kind smile & hug, or treat them with respect because most people they come in contact with look down on them as scum of the earth. I think God is getting ready to do something so big we will shake our heads in amazement.
Love ya all,
Charla
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Being Thankful
When ministering to the homeless, cold weather makes me start thinking. How in the world do they do this? When it’s so cold outside how do they stay warm? I almost feel guilty when I light my fireplace. No Place Outreach has been having a drive to collect coats & blankets. A co-worker of mine brought me some blankets, a coat & some thermal underwear on Wednesday. Another friend of mine has been telling her co-workers about this ministry and has collected needed items in the past. Yesterday (Wednesday) one of her co-workers came back from lunch with several sweat shirts, gloves, underwear, socks & blankets that she purchased. She called me and brought the items to me. Another friend of mine (amazing that I have more than one friend!) called me Tuesday night to let me know the business she works for was getting rid of several boxes of long-sleeve shirts, did I want them for the homeless. I said yes and picked them up Wednesday night too.
I love how God brings things together. God placed a burden on their heart. They wanted to help some homeless people to stay warm. Even though some of the people that gave didn’t know the breakfast is on Thursdays, God always knows where you are and what you need. Wednesday night my car was full of blankets, clothes & gloves to be given out Thursday morning!
Since I only had one coat I thought it should be given to the one who needed it the most. What if there were more than one that really needed a coat? Just so happens out of the 20 or so people we served at Roselawn, one man stood out. His coat was about 2 sizes too small for him and didn’t even go down to his waist. He was very thankful for his new coat!
Made it to the overpass where a group of people live in their own community. We passed out socks to everyone. You would have thought we were passing out $5 bills. Very appreciative. We had a few thick gloves and some that were thinner. I thought we had given all the gloves out when a man approached me asking for some. I told him I’d go check and I found one more pair of the thick gloves. When I gave them to him, his face lit up! He was expecting some of the thinner ones evidently because he couldn’t believe that he got such a nice pair of gloves. He was almost laughing as he repeatedly thanked me for the gloves. I quickly shared how we got the stuff from different people and how it all came together the night before. And how it shows how much God cares about him. He said to please tell the person that bought the gloves thank you! So to all of you who have ever donated items for the homeless, THANK YOU! I want to add my personal thanks to you too. It was so awesome & humbling for me to see the joy on this man's face, an incredible experience! It could not have been done without you! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who contributes in any way to the homeless!
Matthew 25:35-40 ...for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Bernie D.
I love how God brings things together. God placed a burden on their heart. They wanted to help some homeless people to stay warm. Even though some of the people that gave didn’t know the breakfast is on Thursdays, God always knows where you are and what you need. Wednesday night my car was full of blankets, clothes & gloves to be given out Thursday morning!
Since I only had one coat I thought it should be given to the one who needed it the most. What if there were more than one that really needed a coat? Just so happens out of the 20 or so people we served at Roselawn, one man stood out. His coat was about 2 sizes too small for him and didn’t even go down to his waist. He was very thankful for his new coat!
Made it to the overpass where a group of people live in their own community. We passed out socks to everyone. You would have thought we were passing out $5 bills. Very appreciative. We had a few thick gloves and some that were thinner. I thought we had given all the gloves out when a man approached me asking for some. I told him I’d go check and I found one more pair of the thick gloves. When I gave them to him, his face lit up! He was expecting some of the thinner ones evidently because he couldn’t believe that he got such a nice pair of gloves. He was almost laughing as he repeatedly thanked me for the gloves. I quickly shared how we got the stuff from different people and how it all came together the night before. And how it shows how much God cares about him. He said to please tell the person that bought the gloves thank you! So to all of you who have ever donated items for the homeless, THANK YOU! I want to add my personal thanks to you too. It was so awesome & humbling for me to see the joy on this man's face, an incredible experience! It could not have been done without you! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who contributes in any way to the homeless!
Matthew 25:35-40 ...for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Bernie D.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
