God Never Wastes Your Suffering

Great Kid's Hope party last Sunday afternoon! See the pictures below, but don't miss Sarah Bowers' story in her email to the volunteers.

Yesterday’s BBQ was successful on so many levels.  We had over 65 people, of which 6 of them were students.  I had conversations with 2 mothers’ about how they could expand this ministry to other schools.  I got to meet our newest student and his family. Students got to know their mentors families, and vice versa.  There was enough hugs, giggles and fun to go around….oh, it was absolutely amazing.

But there was more, at least personally. Personally, I was feeling victorious.

Henry’s message this weekend continued to bring me back to my role in KHUSA. The entire message was encouraging, yet one statement stands out: “God never wastes your suffering.”

As I stood there yesterday, looking out over the crowd I realized in a practical, hands on way, the truth behind that statement.  All the pain and difficulty I experienced in my childhood is the fuel which fires my passion for this ministry.  It wasn’t until I said yes to this journey that I began to realize it.  God has blessed me with such amazing personal/spiritual healing as I lead this group of amazing, selfless and loving volunteers.  Each of you are changing the lives of these 17 children, many who are experiencing similar situations as I had.  Their lives are changing, and with each smile, each fun comment of a DPR, each prayer request answered God brings to life Genesis 50:20 in my heart.

Then yesterday, as I was able to welcome each child with a smile and thank their parents for allowing us the blessing of spending time with them my heart was screaming, “God, this – these people, this ministry, this day –is all you!”

Celebrate Impact!

Well you and many others joined in and the results were incredible. And here's Jerry Meras' report:

Sunday night, at just past 9:00 pm, Five Oaks Church achieved its goal of packing 500,000 meals for hungry kids world-wide through our Feed My Starving Children MobilePack Event.
 
This moment was significant because it was the culmination of nearly a year of planning, fundraising, gathering volunteers and hard work that even included a small group of us cycling 2,200 miles through the desert in August!
 
Through the generous giving of our congregation and community, we were able to keep packing until we used up every bit of the ingredients we had on location. In the end, we packed 520,992 meals. That is an impressive number, but what is more important to know is that we all came together to feed 1,427 starving children, every day, for a full year!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this event.  We could not have done it without you!