I was busy on the loading dock when a lady pulled up to donate gently used household items. She shared with me that 18 years ago, she was given the unexpected situation of raising her two grandsons. Both boys were tiny. Their dad, her son, wasn’t able to care for them. In those days, she learned about With Love From Jesus. We were, at the time, located in our first building on Chapel Hill Road. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she shared that the ministry enabled her to feed the boys. She laughed through the tears as she said,

COVID hit Wendy and her family hard. They were out of work for some time. As a result, they were behind on their rent and couldn’t get help through any agency because their friend’s name was on their lease.. They received prayer for God to make a way for them to get help. They were thankful to receive food, clothing and other practical help.

Marvin stopped with a personal need to ask the volunteer to pray for him. As they continued talking, the volunteer asked about his relationship with Christ. Marvin wasn’t sure how to answer the question. So the volunteer asked him, “Why would God allow you into heaven?” “I’m a good person,” was Marvin’s response. Gently and directly, the truth of no one being good enough to go to heaven and the simple truths of the gospel were shared. Marvin realized he wasn’t sure. He understood he needed to receive Christ. They prayed together and Marvin left with a real relationship with Christ.

On some of the days leading up to Christmas, there were stations set up around our buildings with racks of special treats for our guests to receive–toys, books, new book bags, craft items and new clothing. There were no squabbles over toys this year. Each guest was delighted to be able to shop and thankful for each volunteer that came allowing us to be open. Thankful hearts was definitely the theme over this Christmas shopping season!

The short but very focused message was about guilt. The prayer center filled up with people struggling with guilt who needed help. Jim, our prayer center volunteer, was incredibly busy. One gentleman in particular was struggling with his thought life. As he shared with Jim, it became apparent that he did not have a relationship with Jesus. He now understood he was trying to deal with something that he had no power to handle. Jesus is the source of power. Four people received Christ. They knew they had resource needs, but they came to understand that their spiritual need was even greater.

One day this month Jose raised his hand to receive Christ. Ingrid was sitting near him and encouraged him to go into the prayer center for help. The volunteer was able to pray with him in Spanish and help him make that decision. Ingrid was a great blessing of encouragement to Jose and to our volunteer. One guest helping another is always beautiful to watch..

A volunteer came to serve with her husband. She’s been having many health issues and a few months ago was able to get some help from the Mayo Clinic in Florida. They referred her to a local doctor for more extensive tests. His office could not see her until the end of Oct. Since August she’s been calling their office regularly to see if there were any cancellations that might move up her visit. On the day she came to serve, she had to leave early because she was not feeling well and then returned to pick up her husband..

Savannah, a sixth grader, came to serve on a Saturday when we were challenged for volunteers to cover every area. She manned the canned food shelf alone and did a good job. Her zeal to serve was beautiful. We were giving away backpacks to the children that day and Savannah loved helping other children pick out the perfect backpack for them. Marvin is a handful to minister to. He takes a long time to make his choices and always tries to figure out a way to get something extra. He lingers and watches to see if something being stocked is better than what he already has.

It’s been incredible to watch the flexibility of our volunteers as we’ve been serving the community under these more challenging circumstances. Recently, we had to close down early because of social distancing requirements mixed with the restrictions of gatherings to be no more than 10. There were so many more to serve, so several volunteers armed with a gospel devotional (printed in English and Spanish) and pre-packaged boxes of food items went to the parking lot to serve guests there. Many received these resources with thankful hearts and all received prayer. It was a wonderful time of watching God’s people make what we could do work to bless others.

Ministry for our volunteers comes in many forms. We have folks that help on days that we bring in honored guests, but also those who help to stock shelves or serve on the administrative team, or do pickups (furniture and food). One of the volunteers serving on the pickup team was struck by the obvious need of a man in the parking lot as the volunteer was picking up food for us from a local grocery store. He pulled over to the man and offered him a sandwich and cookie. This gave him a chance to sow a seed of loving kindness into this man and meet a need before the food ever arrived at the building.