Servant Attitudes in Action

I thought I would take a break from my Bible Study just for today to share some amazing opportunities to get involved with some Godly ministry options. I've had the pleasure of not only working with these organizations, but am seeing some fruit from that calling in my life as well.

As you know as believers in Jesus, we are called and commanded to help financially when we can. For most of us, that is our simple tithes to the church, but what about other opportunities like helping our your local food bank or homeless shelter with food or clothing you can donate. I read that most food banks can purchase more food if we provide them with the funds to do so, than if we bought the food ourselves. Trust me, I believe they know more about what people really need over what we can "spare" from our own pantries. Some tips to consider when making a food donation:

1. Check the food dates to verify that these are still good to use. I know many of the cans and boxes of food in my pantry are often so outdated, I fail to check the dates on the packages or cans. I didn't realize how old some of my stuff really was until I moved.

2. Consider buying a gift card over making your own selections at the grocery store, that way fresh meat or milk can be bought from the shelters to provide to those in need. This works out so well during the holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving, when most shelters get everyone's left over canned goods that no one really wants to eat.

3. Consider donating what you would want to eat, not what you have sitting around in your cabinet. Cans of tuna or chicken, macaroni and cheese, pasta and pasta sauce, cereal, baby formula, and rice and beans make great options to donate.

4. Consider calling your local food bank and see what they could really use. You might be surprised at what is really in need compared to what you were going to bring instead.

Local homeless shelters are often in need of basics like clothing, bedding and baby items. Personal hygeine items are also in need. Calling ahead will provide you with some opportunities to donate what is needed in case storage for those items may pose an issue until they are truly needed. Churches and women shelters are also places you can check to donate items you may have on hand. A rule of thumb I always use, is before you throw something away, might it be reused in some way by someone who truly needs it? Consider donating it over throwing it away instead.

For animal lovers, consider donating items to your local shelters such as towels, blankets, pet food and toys. Financial donations are always welcome to help provide for these items since most of the time, donations are way down. This way they can provide what they need instead. Calling your local animal shelter can provide you with some great opportunities for the church to step in and help out as a service to the community.

Love listening to your favorite Christian station in the morning while driving to work? Consider partnering with them as a monthly sponsor. You'd be amazed at how much it takes to keep a radio station on and broadcasting in your area. If you've been blessed consider a one time or monthly donation to help.

Some of my favorite charities are listed below and would love it if you might consider helping out in any way if you feel lead. Some you may have heard of while others might be surprisingly new, but I wanted to share them with you.

Compassion International: For $38.00 you can provide everything a child needs to help feed, cloth and educate them in third world countries all over the world. You can write to them and get letters back showing how much your donations are helping to make a difference in the lives of children all over the world. It amazes me that some of these families exist on a $1.00 a day, while the monthly donation is the price of a dinner for two here. It can provide meals, health care, schooling costs and clothing to help make someone's life a whole lot better.

Salvation Army: Always my favorite! From the little red kettled bell ringers during the holiday, Salvation Army is one of the few charities that donates most of their proceeds to help those truly in need from financial contributions or donation of any items to their stores that benefit the communities that they serve. You can do monthly financial obligations or a one time donation.

Heifer International: For a donation of any amount, you can help families all over the world earn a living through buying a flock of chick, rabbits, ox, cows, goats or bees. These gifts are presented to families to earn a living, so they can become self sustaining in their communities and help others in their communities by donating offspring to create a lasting legacy that keeps on giving. Each sponsor family receives education on farming and how to care for the animals as well as any supplies they need. It truly is a wonderful program to help people earn a trade. Nepal has a great need for this right now due to the recent earthquake there to help get people back up and working again to provide for their families. In fact some times, Heifer will double your donation amount or triple it. We love knowing that by buying a goat or a flock of chickens were are helping people learn to live again!

Cup of Joe for a Joe: Green Beans coffee company sponsors these local coffee shops at our military camps all over the world where our troops are serving by offering a cup of coffee to those who are serving in our military for $2.00 a cup. You can make a one time donation, or monthly donations and each time a service member picks up a cup of coffee on you, you get an email with a personal message of thanks from them and where they are stationed. Truly a wonderful way to help support our military with some love from home. We have actually become pen pals with some of the men and women serving overseas. Here's one of the emails we recently received:

A Service Member wants to thank you for sending them a Cup of Joe!

Cup of Joe #1

Your message and gift of a CUP OF JOE was delivered to a Service Member serving at BPC Mall in Qatar. They wanted to say thanks and make sure you knew your gift was received. Please see below for their note to you:

It really feels good to get a gift from back home in SoCal! God bless you! Adam

Consider helping fund your local schools lunch program for families who are struggling to provide lunch for their child. Most can qualify for free lunch through programs offered by the state or government, but many families are struggling who can't. I know so many kids don't get lunch because they might be hurting on a temporary basis. My daughter used to share her lunch with a girl who couldn't afford to buy a lunch or bring one from home for personal reasons. As you can see, there are truly hundreds of opportunities to help and expand the reach of our churches and for those who want to serve God in profound ways. These are just some of the ones our family has participated in. Won't you share some of yours with me as well. You can even get creative and think up your own ways to help your neighborhood or community. Now's the time to show others what Godly people can do if we are willing to go out there and help!

Acts 20:25 ~ " In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "(NIV).

Possible Ministry Opportunity

For months now while watching what has been happening all around us, people losing jobs, losing homes, losing loved ones, struggling just to put enough food in their house to make a decent meal, helping people out with no or low cost legal options, finding medical care for people who have found themselves without insurance, you name it and I'm sure you can find a need that you have heard about or you yourself need.

How many times have you asked yourself, if only...(fill in the blank with your need)?

How easy would it be to fix things if everyone just got together and said, enough is enough, let's stop waiting around for the government to fix things, lets jump start a program to really help people who are hurting?

God has placed such a burden on my heart to help people who are in need, but often I felt like I can't do it alone. Then God asked if I would at least be willing to try if He provided the means. Why sure! Of course, I'd jump at the chance! Today, God reminded me I don't have to do it alone.

I know there are tons of people around the world, through Facebook and all kinds of Social Media groups that would LOVE to jump in and help in ways that only they can. You might have a special gift to help out and simply didn't know where your skills sets might fit in. I mean what can one person do right?

A lot if you're 100% committed to making this work. I believe it can!

I believe that God will bless the efforts and provide a 100-fold return if we are willing to be a 100% committed. The great thing is that you don't have to be 100% committed all the time. Just 100% committed when you decide to step out in faith.

It could simply be responding to the need of a single mom, who found out she can't make her rent because her husband stopped paying on his child support and now she is really stressing out. When she tells you about it, I know in some cases we can just pay her rent, but in some cases we can. That's when I believe we should. If we can't, I believe we know people who can, or even if we simply got 100 people to contribute enough to help, we can all help!

This is my belief that as believers that there is nothing wrong when people tell you that you're having an issue, and are standard response is, "I'll pray for you!" Let's take it a step further and accompany that prayer with action!

James 2:14 - 17 amplified version

"What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no [good] works to [show for it]? Can [such] faith save [his soul]?

If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day, And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?

So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead)."

While this is still in the process of being compiled with many prayers to move forward, and we have yet to work out the business side of creating a non-profit and logistics on this side, we would love to begin planning with those of you that are sincerely interested to show the world, what the power of His Love can do to change lives in more ways than ever before.

I am super excited to hear your ideas and comments!

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help me remember, Lord, that faith without obedient actions to back it up is destitute of power, inoperative and dead. Help me work together with other believers to make this vision of Yours, a reality and show people everywhere the power of Your love! In Jesus Name, we pray! AMEN!!

A Blogger Making A Difference!

http://www.ksat.com/video/23006571/ Click here to view her video!

From time to time it's nice to make a new friend and see what it is that makes them a bit unique. I had that very experience some time ago when I met Tabitha of I Choose Bliss and A Five Oh 4 Uplifting. You could tell by looking at her and reading her posts that she has a genuine love for God and for helping others.

Last week she had the wonderful opportunity to be interviewed by her local news on something Tabitha has been doing for quite some time and not too many people knew. Until NOW! Please click on the link below her picture.

After watching this video and seeing the love of God completely present in everything she does, I felt compelled to help. So I posted her outreach ministry on my other blog, ARK 4 God, because we look for people like this making a difference in the lives of so many by the simple things that they can do.

Yet I wanted to do more than that and really get to know Tabitha more. So I asked to interview her so we could all get to know her even more. She was so kind to do this and here is those questions she had taken the time to answer.

1. What inspired you to create your little giveaways?

I had been doing charity work before Hurricane Katrina relocated us. Once we settled in Texas I met a friend who placed the idea of goody bags in my head. Of course, that was God's doing. He placed this passion within me and he used my friend to re-ignite that passion.

2. How do you find out whom to give them to?

When we first started (Oct 2007) we were sending our goody bags to hospitals here, locally and to various other states. As we grew the way we found beings in need grew. I belong to various other groups that have allowed me to uplift beings in my way. For the most part now people find us through our website, Face Book, Twitter and word of mouth. They contact us and ask us to uplift either themselves, a loved one or a dear friend.

3. How long have you been doing this?

We've been doing the goody bags since October 2007, but I've been helping homeless shelters and uplifting hospitalized kids since October 1992

4. What needs do you have that would make your ministry better?

Our biggest need is ALWAYS postage stamps. We go through 300 or more a month and that can be very expensive. To receive help in that area would make our ministry run much smoother.

5. How do you decide what to giveaway?

We purchase our items through Oriental Trading and Dollar Tree. After we find items that we think the hospitalized kids would love we show them to hospital administrators. If they give us the safety okay we purchase those items in bulk. Most items we give I ask my daughter "would you like this as a gift?" She helps me decide 99% of the time.

6. Do you accept donations for your giveaways?

We currently have our PayPal button displayed on our website and we also accept money orders, checks or a gift card for either Oriental Trading or Dollar Tree. For anyone sending checks or money orders they can email us to find out who to make them out to.

7. How do you stay so positive when life hands you a curve ball?

All of my strength, drive and energy comes from a healthy relationship with God. I know that I was created with birth abnormalities for a reason. I am His servant and child and I know that everything I go through he's there with me.

8. What is the best advice you could give to anyone who questions, God why me?

We all must go through trials. The key to getting through them is to truly know and believe God will see you through anything. What we can't do He can. I've asked why me before, but now that I know the answer I say why not me?

9. Do you ever felt there was a time God had left you?

I don't think it was that I felt He had left me. It was more like I had walked away from him. My faith was weak and there were many days I didn't understand why I was born differently from everyone else in my family. I was coasting through life and I just didn't know His truth yet.

10. What is one thing you want to be remembered for long after you leave earth and arrive in God's heavenly home?

I'd like to be remembered for my kindness and my words. I strive daily to uplift others with kind words. I pray that those words will be remembered and they will be used to uplift many more beings.

So my dear blogging friends, this is where you come in to help. Tabitha is in need of postage stamps. Anything at all can really make a difference in helping her out, from $1.00 to whatever you feel God lays upon your heart. We all talk about making a difference and now it's time to act on that. Won't you please stop by Tabitha's blog today and help in any way you can. While you're there, become a follower of hers and tell her Kat sent you!