wanderers into your homes. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide
from relatives who need your help. If you do these things, your salvation will
come like the dawn. Yes, your healing will come quickly. Your godliness will
lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind
was still hobbling around on crutches, still struggling with why in the world
the Lord was not allowing me to do ministry yet. Immediately the Lord put on my heart to cook
and distribute the food to the homeless and elderly around town. The Lord knows my heart and He knows the
homeless and elderly are a huge part of my heart. This confused me even more because there was
no possible way I could do it. I was
STILL unable to leave the apartment. I
would share with my team this desire, but it wasn’t really a desire God had
given them, so it simply kept growing in me. I did find out one of my teammates had been giving her lunch away one
day a week, which made me very excited. Finally two weeks ago the Lord blessed me to be able to do ministry. However, He placed me in a
kindergarten class as my ministry, not in downtown Kiev. Because my foot has still been in the healing
process, my ministry time was limited. I
was not able to do ministry both in the morning and in the evening. Again, I could not understand why God was
continuing to grow this passion in my heart. I kept hearing Him say, ” For I was
hungry and you fed me“. On Saturday I did not have ministry and one
of the girls I work with had invited me to serve tea and coffee to people with
her church group. I was really excited
and thought perhaps this is what God was really putting in my heart. My teammate Erica and I went and enjoyed serving
the tea and coffee, but it was not quenching the desire in my heart. As we waited for more people to come by our
table I asked one of the church members where the homeless congregate. Elvin, one of the members, told me they are
everywhere and he started listing some places. I shared with this group the passion the Lord had put on my heart. I knew I only had a week left in Kiev and I
knew God was calling me to do this, I just didn’t know when or how. I told them I was going to try to do it once
my morning ministry ended. They shared
with me that they would like to do it with me. I said ok and thought it would be really awesome if they did do it with
me, but I also have learned that just because people say something doesn’t make
it a commitment to actually do it. The
next day a group of us went to the church we had helped out the night
before. The pastor at this church, Vineyard,
had just come back from a trip to the states and was filled with such a passion
to get out and do something in the community. He talked about how he wants this church to do for the community and he
discussed past attempts that failed but was still encouraging of the
future. This is excited me and I began
praying for God to plant something in the hearts of the members to bring the
church to the community. During the
announcement time, Olya, one of the girls I ministered with the night before,
stood up and announced that I would be preparing food for the homeless and
anyone who wanted to help could contact us. The seed I was praying God would plant had actually been planted the
night before.
“Then the King will say to those on the right, `Come, you who
are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a
drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and
you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and
you visited me.’ Then these righteous ones will reply, `Lord, when did we ever
see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a
stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we
ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?’ And the King will tell them, `I
assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and
sisters, you were doing it to me!'” (Matthew 25:34-40).
On Wedn
esday I hurried home from teaching kinderga
rten to begin cooking and
preparing food to be distributed. I did
not know who or how many people I would have with me to serve food, but I knew
that Olya and I would for sure be handing food out. When I arrived home I was delighted to see
Erica singing and dancing around the kitchen. She was cooking the rice and vegetables! What a complete blessing! I sat
down at the table and grated the cheese and before we knew it we were rolling
burritos and ready to serve. There were
about 6 or 7 of us total and we all paired up, prayed up, and went out in
search of who to hand out our food to. Some people had outstanding success with people being open to taking the
food and being prayed for, others like Elvin and I had a bit more of a
challenge. Our challenge began with
trying to find people. Apparently we
went at a time when most of the homeless in the area were out looking for
bottles. Then, as Elvin explained,
people are extremely hesitant to take something for “free”. We even had people saying it was poison. But we did not allow ourselves to become
discouraged. Handing out food to the
homeless is about so much more than feeding the physical need. Each person that we stopped to talk to, regardless
of whether they took food or not, had a firsthand encounter with Jesus Christ,
and that is something that feeds much more than just the physical.
When the Lord put feeding the homeless on my heart, I selfishly thought it was
because that’s just part of the heart God has given me. While this is true, I now see how He orchestrated
everything. I was with Elvin as we handed
out food, but I was more there as an encourager. I see how God used the heart and passion He
has planted inside of me, to encourage and stir up a passion and desire in the
people of Vineyard Church in Kiev. God
has created amazing young people in this church and given them a passion to
serve and for one night He allowed Erica and I to be their encouragers and to
be their “coach” in this type of ministry. Personally, I look forward to hearing from my new friends all the ways
God has grown their “new” ministry!
