Blessings from youth group out reach

Today our youth group along with some adult volunteers went to feed some homeless people in downtown Fort Lauderdale. We had given out lunches before but this was a new experience…breakfast and clothing donations. It was an awesome experience for the youth group and all involved. There were many stories as the teens sat with the homeless, talked with them, prayed with them if they wanted and just got to know them. They came out appreciating what they have and some realizing that homeless come from many different backgrounds and circumstances that got them to where they are now. The people that were fed and clothed totally appreciated the food, but some more so appreciated the fact that the kids were talking with them….not “preaching” to them, but talking with them…getting to know them and talk to them like they were “real people”.

Hebrews 13:
2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!

Friday evening at youth group, our youth leader prayed and had a special message for the group as we all prepared for this out reach. There were others praying for the out reach and the enemy tried multiple times with various people to make this difficult or not happen. When that happens, you just know that good will come of it because the enemy is trying to defeat and not allow the blessings to come. But, putting on the armor of God, praying, believing, standing in faith and pressing on…victory and blessings are had.

Philippians 4:6-7
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:8-9
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Now, these out reaches are blessing filled…
from the people who are fed and clothed today
to the teens and adults who helped and were part of it
to those who prayed for the out reach
to the ones who cooked and donated food
to those who helped load up the trucks and set up
to the one who donated the use of his generator
to the businesses that donated coffee, etc.
to everyone who was part of the out reach.

The blessings weren’t just on the people who were fed, we all received blessings today in some manner.
Be it tears of joy from the heart on how moving the day was, to being filled with gratitude for what God supplies all of us daily, to the fellowshipping and interaction that was taking place.
Everyone played a part in today and were blessed for it.
There was prayer, joy, helpfulness, working together, fun, laughter, tears, happiness, contemplation, and some deep conversations as well.

Some may not think that a conversation is a blessing…but it is and can be! So, while we went to help the homeless some of us were helped as well because of the opportunity to share and spend time with those that we may often not be able to.

Someone who’s opinion and insight means a lot to me shared some things with me today that really got me thinking and contemplating who I am in Christ and how I act and do things. Tomorrow I’ll have a blog about faith and different levels of faith as well as being content.

But, for now I’ll touch on part of what we discussed and that was being who God wants us to be. We all screw up, we all fall short but we continue to press on and grow and try to do the things that God would want us to do. After our conversation, I can see more areas I need to work on in my own life and I’ll be praying for favor to be able to change and a better example and be able to impact people and situations in a different way than I sometimes do. So thank you! If you’re reading this, you know who you are.