A Special Situation

Recently Marc mentioned a special situation in which Food for Life has gotten involved. A few months ago, a man started coming to Food for Life for the Bible study. He started getting to know Paul and made a profession of faith. About a month ago he called Paul and confessed that he was in a desperate situation. Because of a series of circumstances that appeared to be beyond his control, he was being kicked out of the place in which he lived along with his three children.

Food for Life jumped on the opportunity to help him and his children, knowing that it was certainly going to be a situation bigger than us, but one that we would trust God to work out. Within a matter of days, Paul was able to help the guy find part time work, and Food for Life was able to financially support him for the following three weeks. Just days before this took place, one of my single, female friends had mentioned that she would like to do some babysitting for the summer. She has been providentially available to take care of the children on most of the days that their father has had to work, which has been a huge blessing. She really has a heart for the Lord and ministry and is using the opportunity to minister to the children, which have been completely unchurched and are learning for the first time about the Lord Jesus and what it means to be a Christian.

It appears that things are coming together for us to be able to assist the father and his children this coming week in getting into their own apartment. We have had various friends and church members offer to give pieces of furniture, and we are praying that the rest of their material needs will be met over the course of the next few days. There are so many needs that Paul and I see that we would like to be able to meet. We are simply praying for God's provision, as the needs are great, and it will take many helpers in order to provide to all of them.

Two things that we ask our friends to pray about are as follows:

1) We need women or families who would be willing to help with babysitting, especially after the summer is over and our current babysitter is unavailable. One of the children really struggles with reading, and we are hoping to get him some help with tutoring, or at least get volunteers who are willing to work with the children after school for a couple of hours that could help them with their homework. Babysitting is really our greatest current need. Paul and I are currently helping with the babysitting, but our baby is due in 7 weeks, so our availability is soon to be quite limited.
2) We are also in need of material donations for his apartment. The current needs are as follows: a couch, living room chairs, end tables, a bedroom dresser, curtains, plastic containers for food, pots and pans, wall hangings, small bath and kitchen towels and rags, shower curtain and rod, shower mat, and trash cans for the kitchen and bathrooms. Also, basic items are needed, such as trash bags, dish detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, soap, shampoo, clothes washing detergent, vacuum cleaner, and broom.

We of course covet the prayers of believers for wisdom on our behalf and continued spiritual growth on behalf of this special family.

We were pleased to serve 55 meals this week with the help of about 15 volunteers.

~Charity