I hope that you will be blessed with the stories below.

We have been busy these past few days with our regular Kindness Days and Food pantries. On October 8, we helped a person in need of yard  clean up, household chores, built a chicken coop and light construction. Thanks to Southport Presbyterian Church for sending 17 Youth and 2 adults to bless an individual who is in need of assistance. After the outreach, we found out that this person has been praying for help.

Our Pantry of Faith was on Oct. 13th at Iglesia Wesleyana Monte de Sion. This church has been praying for ways to serve the community and God has been using FHL to plant a self-sustained pantry since April 2012. They now serve between 40-50 families and have 20+ regular volunteers. 

There are many ways we can communicate with God and one of them is through prayers.

Just this past weekend, FHL partnered with Northview Church in Carmel, IN to mobilize more than 200 volunteers for their “Good Neighbor Weekend.” We brought a few groups to our Heal the Land Project. Before we gave instructions for the neighborhood clean up, I shared with the group that cleaning the streets is only secondary to their collective presence and prayers in the area. Since we have God in our hearts, we can also release His Presence wherever we are. I encouraged them to do prayer walk as well. We prayed together before we started the clean up.

This particular outreach site is in a tough neighborhood with prostitution and drug problems. It seems like the majority of the residents (and/or the residents near the area) do not care for their surrounding since they have chronic problem of trashing the alleys and the vacant and abandoned lots. We have been bringing volunteers in this same area for almost two years on a regular basis but with some progress. However, we believe that God wants to heal this land.

After a few hours of clean up we gathered together for testimonials and debriefing. One of the testimonials was about a couple that badly needs assistance in clearing and cleaning their backyard. The lady of the house is 81 years old. Their backyard was full of overgrown weeds and all kinds of trash. After one of the volunteers prayed for them, I had the opportunity to interview the man of the house. He shared that he was fasting and praying that God would send help to assist in cleaning their yard. He almost broke down when one of the groups showed up in his backyard that afternoon. His prayers reached God and He got his answer immediately.

We ended the outreach with debriefing and prayer. As our Project Manager , Bill was leading the prayer in front of about 70 volunteers on the side of a street, I noticed a woman walking in front of me. She looked depressed and she looked surprised that a bunch of people in her neighborhood is praying together on the street. I continued to pray and forgot about the woman. Soon, all the volunteers left. As I was gathering our tools, I saw the same woman being prayed for by Bill & Donna. She came back and spilled her heart to them. God convicted her to come back to us instead to pursuing her plan to shoplift. She had a black eye and backache because her boyfriend beat her and left her. She did not have anyone in her life because her children were taken away from her a number of years ago while she was in jail. She was going to help herself at one of the grocery stores to clean her apartment because she will be kicked out in the streets in the next few days. She will go to court the following week because of her habitual shoplifting. Bill & Donna led her to the Lord. I asked her if I can pray for healing of her black eye. She hesitantly agreed and within a minute of prayer she said that her eye was not hurting anymore. Bill & Donna ended up providing her assistance for her clothes, supplies and food.

Daniel 9:23, “As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.” God had heard the prayers of the church who wanted assistance in starting a food pantry, a person in need of assistance for yard work and household chores,  a couple that needed help in their backyard, a woman in desperation and for our group to be a part of what He is doing in a neighborhood.

Be encouraged that your prayers are heard in heaven. God wants to provide the best for His children and He wants to answer your prayers.