Praise God for His Servants!

I have a confession to make this morning... I had started getting down about the Manna Meals Ministry that Jen & I started in 2006. Our shelves are still pretty empty, we didn't have some volunteers coming back this year, we needed to fill quite a few spots, 2nd Harvest Gleaners isn't having the items available that we need... My focus was on what I wasn't getting done and what I couldn't get done myself! I was, once again, distracted by all this world's obstacles. I wasn't keeping my focus on God's Plan and what He could do, has done, and IS doing through this ministry.



First God worked on getting our help through the Isaiah Project. One of the attendees of the conference works at the Christian School. She saw the Manna Meal table set up and was very interested in helping somehow. The theme of their school this year is something about servanthood. She talked to the principal last Monday (the day after the conference) and they decided that they would like to send a group of kids to our church every other Monday morning to help assemble the meals! PTL!!! We are slowly getting more of the community involved in this ministry which was our intent from the beginning!



Also, last week I sent home parent letters & permission forms with all of the elementary age kids in the Public Schools in Allendale. I had forgotten that I had requested help on the bottom of the parent letter... :) Last Thursday (3 days after talking with the Christian School) I got a call from a dad of a student from the Public School. He is a single parent, new to the area, currently unemployed (looking for a first shift job), and looking for ways to help the community. He is going to transport meals one day each week until he finds a job!



Another call was received yesterday morning! A mom wants to help as much as she can! She is impressed with the ministry and wants to be a part of it! She will be making sandwiches every Tuesday morning and every other Wednesday morning!



And yet ANOTHER call was received last night! Another mom wants to volunteer her time as much as possible. She is also a single parent, currently unemployed, and wants to give more of her time to the community as well! I was able to talk to her for almost 1/2 hour last night and was able to invite her to our church if she was feeling led here (she's been trying to decide between 2 other churches in the area). She will be transporting meals every Monday!



I was also able to talk to the new principal of one of the elementary schools and she said she saw the letters going out. She asked when we would be starting because she sees such a great need for this!



WOW!!!



God has been so good to this ministry! Just when I started to wonder if we were still doing His Will, He reaffirms to me not once but 5 times within a week that we're still on track with His Plan!



Either this coming Sunday or the following I'm supposed to be getting in front of church to explain what Manna Meals is all about and also show how much food we go through EVERY DAY! I will base the numbers on our average last year which was 40 meals per day. This means 40 100% juice boxes, 40 pudding cups, 40 granola or cereal bars, 40 cracker packs, 4 loaves of bread, almost 3 jars of creamy peanut butter (18 oz), 40 bags of chips (if we have them), and 40 large lunch bags, sandwich bags, spoons, napkins. This is our minimum that we would put in each meal and this is only for one day!



Our pantry is in need of donations right now and I know that God will provide exactly what we need exactly when we need it! Jen and I started this ministry on faith alone and we are going to continue it on that faith! This is God's Ministry! Without His Hand in it, we wouldn't be where we are today!



We also may have a portion of our bread needs taken care of - we'll see what God does with that! :) It's fun to "sit back and watch" what He does when we get out of the way!!



If any of you are interested in donating items or money for items, please let me know and I'll be happy to let you know what we need most and/or where to send your donation. Usually we have an ongoing need for pudding cups, 100% juice boxes/bottles, and creamy peanut butter - those go SO fast!!!



May God Bless You As Much As You Are A Blessing!

Your Sister In Christ,