Saved by God!: Mr. J

Thursday night a couple of us have been going to a pray meeting to pray for the city of Stockton.  In the meeting God spoke to me and said the enemy has been using different tactics each week to see what will shut down the Friday Free Grocery give away.  My first thought was "Oh no what will he try tomorrow"

Friday comes and there was a gentleman sitting by our 600-700lb gate that opens up to our parking lot where we have the give away at.  The gate is on two tracks one upper and one on the ground.  The gate came off the both tracks and fell on the man.  As soon as it did the Lord reminded me what He had said the night before about the enemy trying to shut us down.

A group of people got the gate off of him. I went over and found that Mr. J only speaks spanish. I asked one of our volunteers to inturpret for me.  "Where does he hurt" Mr. J said his back. So I prayed for his back. "Where else does he hurt." He said his head. I prayed for his head.  The paramedics came.  I ran into the warehouse and called the first to people that came to my mind.  Then I went to my knees and asked God what to do. God said "Everything is going to be fine and go out there you are needed" I felt peace that surpassed all understanding for the rest of the day.  I went back out and asked our volunteer to pray for his wife in spanish as she was led and I would pray in english.

Our volunteer said she felt she needed to go with them to the hospital.  She went and text us through out the day giving us updates.  By 3 Mr. J was out of the hospital and the x-rays showed there was no damage done. The doctors gave him medicine to help with the pain.

That night as I was praying about what had happened the Lord told me "If it had not been for me (God) and my angels taking the impact he could have died."

Joel looked at the gate that had fallen and there is no way it should have.  It was the enemy and the enemy alone that did this.

Mr. J. is still in pain but he also had a work related accident that hurt his back and neck prior to the gate falling on him.  We are praying that God will restore him to be better than he was before.

God is truly gracious.  He doesn't allow anything for our demise and He will get the glory out of this situation.  Mr. J and his wife came back on Friday and thanked us for our prayers. They were telling us they believe if it had not been for our prayers Mr. J would have been injured badly and not just walk away with pain.    Mr. J wants to start coming to bible study and receive more prayer.

Sincerely,
Dess

In need of the little things in life: Ms. S

Over the last 3 months we have only put out food on Friday's for our Free Grocery Give Aways.  At the beginning of the month we received a donation of razors and tampons.  Having never before put out such items you always wonder "Will this item go over well with the people" "Will they like it"  Last week we put out razors and story after story came in saying people were so thrilled and relieved to have razors provided for them. This week we put out tampons.  Both items, razors and tampons, can be expensive for people who are just trying to make ends meet. It can mean the difference between buying food or buying those items.

Ms. S came up to one of our volunteers before she was escorted around by a tour guide. "I am in need of pads do you guys have any in the warehouse." The volunteer answered "We are giving away tampons today is that okay" she started crying and said "I had no money for them. Last week I needed a razor and prayed and you had razors last week. This week I needed tampons and God provided"

God cares about the smallest details of our lives.No prayer is too big or small for God to care about it.  Take it to Jesus and lay it at His feet, whatever it is!

 

Prayers Answered and Kindness Given Back: Mr. M

As you may or may not know H.e.l.p. Ministries has been doing the grocery give away since May 3rd But it wasn’t until a few Friday's after that when a gentleman returned and bypassed the line, that we really realized the impact God was making with what we were doing.  Mr. M had come to receive food and prayer from us a few weeks before. When he came back that week, he was dressed in a public transit outfit and was carrying bags full of sliced bread. He approached me and exclaimed "The last time I was here, I got food and you prayed that I would find a job! Well, I work for the city driving a bus now. I haven't got paid yet, but I wanted to bring this bread to help others."

A Family Reuntied: Ms. C

There is a lady who had been coming every week for food.  She and her boyfriend came every week.  One week they asked a person on our prayer team to pray for a air conditioner. By the next Thursday and a friend of theirs who was homeless was yelling out their window for them.  Mr. C came to the window and saw their friend had an airconditioner on his back that he had been carrying 8 blocks for them. 

After that Mr. & Ms. C just asked for our team to pray a prayer of thanks.  It wasn't until one day she and I were talking that she mentioned they had been homeless and had lost everything in a fire including her childrens phone numbers.  They didn't have a cell phone and do not know anything about computers.  She had not heard from her 3 adult children in 2 - 8 years.  I asked her why had she not asked us to pray for that.  In tears she said because I didn't want to cry.

I said lets pray right now. As I was praying for God to restore her family the word Facebook popped in my head. After I prayed I asked her for her kids first and last name and where they had been living last time she had spoken with them.

I went on Facebook that night and sent out 4 messages to possible prospects. 2 for each of her sons but no sign of the daughter.  Within 2 days the oldest son wrote to me and told me that was his mother.  And gave me a lead for his youngest brother to look on Instagram. But still no sign of the sister.

I went on Instagram and sent two more messages. Both responded back and one was the youngest son.  He was able to communicate through email. 

I wish you could have seen the look on Ms. C's face when she talked to her oldest son for the first time in 8 years. And then sent an email through her speaking and someone else writing.  She was bawling the whole time. So happy to be back in communication with them.

Since then her youngest son has written back and sent pictures of him.  It is so exciting to be able to see what couldn't be done in 2-8 years God did in less than a week.

I encourage you to pray about everything and then watch God work in your life.  Nothing is impossible with God. 

If you think about it please pray that the family would be able to find the middle daughter. They all still are looking for her trying to find out where she is at.

New Life: Mr. C

Since the very first day we started our Grocery Give Away Mr. C has come to receive food. Mr. C is an older gentle man with tattoos all down his arm and who knows where else.  He has a white beard and long white hair.  Always kind and gentle.  Could barely stand so we would offer him a chair to sit while he catches his breath.

After weeks of talking to him we found out that the doctors said He only has until August to life (this was in May) and he needs surgery.  Mr. C only has half his lunges but they want to cut out more.  Mr. C has lots of problems with his organs and body.  For the first two months he would come to us Friday saying he had been in the hospital at least once if not more during the week.

I was always asked by him to pray for him every time he came in, always asking for his body to be healed. I would ask "C have you given your heart to Jesus" he would always answer "Not yet."  Each time I prayed with him I felt such a wall. A wall I couldn't get past no matter what I prayed.  I was getting desperate and I felt or thought time might be running out.  Every week I would ask "C have you given your life to Jesus."  "Not Yet"  I would ask "What are you waiting for?"  He would shrug.

One day we ran into him at McDonalds. I was thrilled to see him.  He was so sweet and said if he won the lottery he would give part of it to our Grocery Give Away.  He left then came back and tossed a 20 dollar bill on the table.

August showed up and we were worried if we would get to see him.  One Friday he came and found me asking for prayer. I asked again "C have you given your heart to Jesus" "kind of sort of" was his reply.  "What do you mean?"  He said "I am trying to give up the bad stuff" I said "Jesus doesn't care He just wants you then you and Him can deal with the bad stuff" He answered "I gave my heart to him this week"  I screamed for Joy.  Then we prayed. I could feel a peace and a thick presence of God I have never felt before with Mr. C.  There was no more wall just Jesus excited that He was now invited into C's life"  I didn't know if I would ever see Mr. C again.

But the next week he came back saying his doctor was shocked to see him that week. That he was a walking miracle. It wasn't the first time the doctor gave him a limit on life. This time when I saw Mr. C it was different. He had a goal, a purpose. He was still in a lot of pain but he talked about helping other boys who are on the verge of making bad decisions. He wanted to spare them of the life he had lived, jail, gangs, drugs, etc.  He told of us about one young man whose mother introduced him to Mr. C. The young man was just starting doing drugs, running with the gang and other stuff.  Mr. C told the boy his life story and wishing he had not made the decisions he had.  Weeks or months later the young boys mother came back to Mr. C thanking him saying her son was a totally different person and it was all because Mr. C took the time to talk to him.

God gave me this verse as Mr. C talked.  I shared it with him and I want to share it with you.

"I will repay you for the years of locusts have eaten - the great locusts and the young locust, the others locusts and the locust swarm - my great army that I set among you. . .  . I will pour out my Spirit on all people. your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old me will dream dreams your young men will see visions."

The Lord had me share that God is going to restore all the bad stuff that happened, the choices you made, the choices God made.  And He will give you dreams/desires.

I am excited that even at Mr. C's age in life and after all he has done and choosen to do God can still restore and give him a calling to help others.

It is never too later.  No matter what you have choosen in life you can ask God to forgive you and ask Jesus into your heart. He can give you a brand new life that you were always meant to live for.

The Beginning

It is the moments after God shows you a job He has called you to do in which you can either say no or yes you don't always realize either one will be life changing.  In the no your life will be changed but you will never know it because everything will remain the same. It is the life of disobedience. Where your life is changed and off course though nothing looks different but it is radically different than if you would have said yes. In the yes your life will radically be changed either instantly or gradually and you will be able to see it.  But in the moment you choose to say yes (And we high recommend saying yes every time to God) you don't know the impact you will have with the direction He is taking you.

It has been our philosophy to seek God, ask Him what He wants and do it.  We don't like to lean to the idea I will go this way and ask God to bless it.  That doesn't fly or sit well with us.  We have come to realize that God has a plan for everyone.  "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Good works prepared in advance for us to do.  He already has a plan and a good one at that.  It's time to ask Him what that plan is.

So one day as I was spending time with the Lord He showed me a vision of a huge grocery give away.  With lots of people lined up around the block.  They would each get a tour guide to help them along to receive the groceries.  After they were done with the groceries the tour guide would take them to the prayer tent and ask if they would liked to be prayed for.  If no they could go along their merry way. If yes then they would hand them over to a person on the prayer team who were ready and willing to pray.  

It was an exciting vision one in which I had no problems saying yes to. That was in December of 2012.  After months of transition (leaving our church, starting our own church, seeking God for every step) we finally opened the gates on May 3rd of 2013 and have never looked back. 

H.e.l.p. Ministries was born out of God calling my husband and I as pastors.  To start a church that would reach the unchurched, lost, broken, forgotten.  Did we know all this at the time, no! We just knew God said leave and start our own church.  There was nothing wrong with the church we were going to at the time.  We loved our pastor and church. I could have stayed there forever.  Being fed the word of God by amazing Bishop.  A church family that knew how to rock the House of God with off the chain worship. I could go on and on but when God says move YOU KNOW YOU BETTER MOVE.  

Every Friday we give out groceries to any and everyone who comes.  Every Wednesday we serve a dinner followed by Bible Study.  

This blog is to share stories of God moving in peoples lives.  We have seen miracles and the move of God like never before.  

We hope this blog encourages you.
Sincerely,
Dess