He Has Done It Again

“The Lord has done it this very day;  let us rejoice today and be glad.”  Psalm 118:24

This verse has been very close to our hearts at the mission for the past month. In these days of uncertainty and constant challenges, it is so refreshing to know that God’s got us.  And not only that, He has done it all this very day.  Even as you read this letter, just pause and reflect on the fact and promise from His word, “the Lord has done it this very day”.  

And exactly what has He done?  Well, no matter what you are facing today, God is not only working in the middle of it, but He has already given you everything you need to handle it and find His peace.  The key to unlock all this is to always attach His name to whatever you are facing.  So instead of “I can’t do this” or “I don’t know if I can handle this”.  It is really quite that simple.  Just always replace the word “I” with “God” or “Jesus”. Watch how this works. “I can’t do this” changes to “God can do this” and “I don’t know if I can handle this” changes to “Jesus will help me handle this”.

We faced a situation recently at the mission where we were asked to double our meal production to help another local organization that had to shut down their kitchen, while trying to care for the poor.  Our team was faced with a daunting task to adjust and make something happen that was way beyond us.  But we held on to the verse above through it all and I am so proud to say that our team worked so hard and tirelessly, with God as our strength and provider – and we were able to provide a record number of meals for people in need for the month of August.

For the month of August, we were so blessed to see God work and live up to the promise that “the Lord has done it this very day” and he allowed us to provide 18,483 meals in one month. This is a brand-new record for River of Life Mission and we are so thankful to all of you that give every month to help us care for people who are starving and desperately in need of a meal.  In fact, I did a little research in the middle of this record month and restaurants across America sell an average of 300 meals per day, and during the month of August we were providing for free, over 1,200 meals per day. Wow, think about that for a minute!  That alone is the verse above in action.  God did it and we were just blessed to see it all happen.

We have so many of our guests tell us that they are so thankful for what we do, because they were literally starving and not sure how they could go on.  These meals that we give out every day, help someone go on and see again that the Lord is good and has “done it for them” this very day too.

As we turn the corner into the end of the year, I truly believe our best is yet to come. We are making bold plans at River of Life Mission to do even more. We are looking at ways to partner with other great, God centered, organizations on the island. Providing at the mission and working with these organizations that specialize in overcoming addictions and behaviors, housing, work training and discipleship.  We are working on a path for our guests that would compassionately walk them through a full recovery plan, so they can live out the life God has for them. We truly believe that providing food gives us the foot in the door and the opportunity to help people make positive changes.  And we want to get more food out and more of these conversations happening around our beautiful island.  We do this now in partnership with some other great organizations and we even have police officers that pick up our food regularly to help care for people they meet that are in need. But even more is to come.
And next month, I can’t wait to share another miraculous story with you about a long-time friend named Bennie.  After seeing him the last time in 2013, Bennie stopped by the mission last week to tell us about all God has done.  I can’t wait to tell you what God did in his life.  It is something only God could do!  And the blessing is that God is doing it for us all.  He has done it, He is doing it, and He will do it.  It’s His promise and that is something so good, that we can anchor our lives into, even today.

God bless you on this amazing day and thank you again for all our wonderful support of River of Life Mission.