Recently while I was volunteering on a Wednesday night at Peace of Bread Community Kitchen, I was greeted by one of our dinner guests, a woman who looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember her name. We meet hundreds of people in any given year of ministry at Peace of Bread, and while some remain our beloved “regulars,” many others come & go never, or rarely, to be seen again.
With a big smile she reminded me of her name & that she used to be a regular attender at Peace of Bread some years ago. I looked into her eyes and remembered her. It was so good to see her again. I didn’t know where she had gone, or what had happened to her when she stopped coming for dinner at Peace of Bread.
She told me of how her life had been so blessed by all the help she received while she came to Peace of Bread. It had been a hard time in her life. She had needed our help in a big way, and to quote her, “I probably would have ended up in a gutter somewhere if it wasn’t for all you here!”
Wow! We never know sometimes, just how meaningful our ministry is! But that’s not even the best part! She went on to tell me that she now is in a good place in her life in Florida. She is part of a church doing outreach into the community providing meals & food to those in need…as she used to be. She is also part of a wonderful women’s group through the church she attends that helps at risk school age kids. The happy smile on this woman’s face spoke volumes.
Isn’t that great?! God is so good! We just continue to be so thankful that He blesses our ministry efforts so much, which allows us to faithfully serve His people and share His love with all who come to Peace of Bread!
Sometimes we wish we could reach out to more people than we do…then someone shares their story with us…and we are reminded how helping only ONE person can end up being a way to help many, many more people than we could ever imagine!
May God be glorified in all we do in His name.
Laurie