31 October 07 - 14:54
Immanuel - God With Us
“Elvis is in the building (van).” God has been so good in bringing us new visitors to ride in the van and tonight was no exception. We had the pleasure of having Elvis ride with us this evening. Only this Elvis is originally from Brazil and attends Northridge Church. The Lord had something special planned for him this evening and the rest of us in the van were going to be blessed by his presence.
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" —which means, "God with us." Matt. 1:23
It’s never too early to celebrate the Christmas season and tonight we all felt the gift of “God with us”. The first person we saw was Donald standing by his broken bike in the middle of the street. We pulled up next to him, introduced ourselves, asked if he was ok and found out he had been hit by a car. That explained the square wheel on the back of his bike. He said he had injured his knee and felt he needed to go to the hospital. We offered to call 911 for him but he declined saying he would have someone take him to the hospital. God was going to bless us through this encounter though. We asked if we could pray with him and when we finished he started witnessing to us! He blessed us so much by his words of praise and also by sharing some of his story with us. This gentle man will be turning 63 next month. He and his wife live in a home that is burned out, they have no material resources yet they are very happy to be alive and give all glory to God. He wanted to know wh
ere our church was located and when we told him our church is the van and it drives through his neighborhood every Tuesday, he said he will look for us so we can ‘have Church’. Praise be to God for His glorious gift of new friends for He is with us!
Our last stop of the evening was at the home of “A”. There are many people living in this little house and they have no heat or food. We were not aware of their dire circumstances when we pulled up to their house. We actually just wanted to stop say hello, pray and play with their puppies. At this time of the evening we had already run out of lunch bags and only had hygiene bags to give them. Little did we know that God already had a plan and if we had not run out of lunch bags the next step would not have happened. Lauren got out of the van to talk to “A” and the kids while Cindy fed the puppies. Elvis and I stayed in the van until Cindy returned crying. When we asked her what was wrong she said ‘the kids are hungry and they don’t have any food in the house’. Elvis then asked where the nearest grocery store was as he wanted to buy them some food. We normally do not run out to the grocery store for our clients but every so often the Lord prompts us to go one step further.
So at 10:30 p.m. we found a 24-hour K-Mart, loaded up a shopping cart and returned to “A’s” home. Oh! I wish you could have been there to see the look on the children’s faces when we walked into the house with bags of food. The youngest boy kept saying “Thank you God” over and over again. One of the others boys kept kissing Lauren and then whispered to her, “I knew you would be back.” Thank you Elvis that you listened to the Lord, blessed this family and in turn blessed us with seeing the joy on these beautiful little faces.
But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, “A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God! Romans 10:14-16 (MSG)
Thank you, dear friends, for continuing to pray for us and for supporting this amazing ministry. We are always in need of prayer and financial support.
Have a blessed week,
Donna
one comment
Donna,
Thanks for allowing me to be part of your evening ride; I don’t know where to start!
Maybe I will start with Cindy; if the testimony of the power of the blood of Christ had legs, it would be called “Cindy”, also if joy in the Lord had legs, it would also be called “Cindy”, and she is for sure special! Mr Elvis…Mrs Lauren(and her powerful testimony!). Let’s not forget the prayer of the lady that came to drop off things for you.
After the night was over, all I can picture is a van with these 3 wonderful warrior women, vested in breastplates of righteousness, 10 feet tall each, protected by Gods’ angels all over, fearless of giving God’s love for the people who need the most. You are the “boss”, Lauren the “spokeswoman” and Cindy the “caregiver”, all in God’s ways, using different gifts to reach out and let people know about our powerful God. WOW!
Yesterday’s ride will have an impact in my life; it has already started in many ways.
Can you please share/confirm the names of the people we met last night? I want to keep praying for them
Donald square wheel – OK
The lady wanted her life and kids back?
– Junior –OK
– Grandma, two young ladies and little David?
– Lady in the bus stop (after the lady that wanted her life back)
– Kids in the “crack” house
– The family we saw the last
Thank you so much Donna, God bless your ministry!
Elvis
Elvis - 31 10 07 - 15:10
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