It's not about the leftovers!

Louie and his family disappeared for weeks. 

Neither he, nor his wife, nor their little girl showed up anywhere they were expected. As his good friend, I was getting worried.

I went to their home to see what was wrong. When Louie answered the door he looked bleary-eyed. It was afternoon, but he looked like he just woke up. All the lights were off in the house.

“Louie, are you ok? What’s going on?” I asked.

Only because Louie knew me so well would he tell me the truth. 

“I lost my job. They’ve shut off all the utilities. We don’t have enough money for food. We’re staying in bed to try to keep warm and not get hungry.” 

They thought if they could keep their activity down by staying in bed they wouldn’t need the food they could not afford.

Louie’s situation is not unique. 

Many people on the edge of poverty don’t reach out when they’re hurting. People often lose their connections to friends, family, and anyone who might be able to help. They are overwhelmed by their difficulties. They can get caught up in a downward spiral that they don’t know how to escape.

I immediately got a week’s worth of groceries for the whole family. I did it again the following week. And again the week after that. I took him to church with me. I visited him regularly and encouraged him. In a simple, persistent way I showed him that God would take care of his family … was, in fact, taking care of his family.

Something changed in Louie when I stepped in to help. Even though he was still without a source of income, he began to trust that God would provide for his family. 

Louie’s spirits lifted. His family started regaining their strength. And Louie found another job. They were soon able to pay the utilities to have light, warmth and water. They were soon able to stand on their own.

At His Provision we come alongside the hurting, the poor and the poor in spirit to help them in any way we can. It means providing food, clothing, school supplies, and counseling. It even means supplying fruit trees for an orphanage, a school, and a rehab center. It means sharing the love of God in meaningful ways.

There’s a wonderful story in the Bible about how Jesus fed 5,000 people with 5 small loaves of bread and two small fish, which a young boy had given him. After every person ate all they could hold, “Jesus said, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.”         – John 6:12-13

At His Provision we give whatever we have to offer. Not only did we help Louie but we help hundreds of hurting people every month by providing food and clothing, personal counseling, transportation, fruit trees, help and hope. 

Louie’s change of heart was obvious. His uncle and brother started spending more time with him after they saw the dramatic change. In time both his uncle and brother gave their lives to Christ. Not only that, but both men have since become pastors, leading others in the transforming love of God.

Now that’s multiplication!

Watch how God multiplies what you offer!

What do nightmares and winters have in common?

Imagine you’ve just gotten a promotion. You’ve moved into your new dream home with your new spouse. Your investments are soaring. You feel like you’re living in a dream come true. 

Kerri’s life went from that dream come true to a nightmare.  

She and her new husband both got laid off from their jobs. They would spend the next 5 years hunting for work and getting laid off.  Again and again and again. Their investments vanished. They were reduced to selling their furniture, dishes, clothes -- anything someone would buy -- just so they could buy food.

Trips to the grocery store would reduce her to tears. She wanted to make a pie for a birthday but couldn’t afford the pie crust, let alone the filling. They lost their new dream home. The strain on the marriage was enormous. She kept praying for stability and peace.

They were 3 days away from homelessness. 

Some friends offered them their garage to live in. “It was better than the streets,” she thought.

Kerri did not know her husband was involved with those friends in a life of drugs and deception. Once they were all under the same roof, that involvement increased. The home around her grew violent. She felt trapped and paralyzed with fear.

One horrible day when her husband was away, one of the “friends” attacked her. The other “friend” did nothing to stop the attack. And when her husband came home, he did little to defend her. 

She knew she was no longer safe -- in that garage / house or with her husband. She packed a bag and left immediately. 

She showed up at the door of an aunt and uncle who took her in while she began to rebuild her life.

Her aunt knew I had been a pastor. She knew that I give out bread every day and help those in need. She brought Kerri to my home to meet me and see the bread I had. My van was brimming with wonderful smelling breads and pastries. I even had a pie she could take for that birthday. All offered freely, with no expectation of return. Only to help someone just like . . .  her. I invited her to help herself.

We began talking and I learned something about what she had been through. I invited her and her aunt and uncle to a party I was having at my house. I showed them a crab apple tree that was in my yard. It was so battered and gnarled that it looked like it was dead. I told them that even so, each spring it’s covered with vibrant flowers and bears sweeter fruit because of the bitter winters. And it grows stronger and larger each year.

Kerri got the connection.

She could see that she was like that tree. Maybe she was going through an awfully bitter winter in her life and things really could turn around. Her marriage was over. But God was already answering her prayers for peace and security. She was beginning to see that God would transform her difficulties into something wonderful.

““… all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28”

We prayed for Kerri. We helped her find work, a home of her own, a church, and people who care. 

“My whole frame of mind is changing. I am becoming more confident and less afraid. I am no longer surrounded by people out to use me, but people who are kind and caring.”

---

Not only have we helped Kerri, but we help hundreds of people every month by providing food, personal counseling, help and hope. 

Right now we need your help to continue providing food for the body and food for the soul to so many hurting and desperate people. Your gift this month will help feed the hungry in body and give hope to the hungry in spirit. 

Please consider donating a gift of $25, $50, $100, or whatever you possibly can. You can help someone like Kerri find healing and hope. You can play a part in changing someone’s life.

Thank you, and may God richly bless you!

P.S. Because we could help Kerri, she now volunteers to help others. Your generosity multiplies!

God will make it happen!

When Lupe needed food to take to refugee families, she didn’t know where to turn for help. So she asked the people at her church what she should do. 

 “Go to His Provision Ministry, ”they told her. “See Ruben Rodriguez.”

Lupe cares deeply for her hometown. Lately it’s been filling up with refugees trying to escape unspeakable corruption and poverty in their own home countries. These people leave everything behind, risking their lives, believing homelessness anywhere else would be better than the danger and despair of their own country.

When they get stopped at the border, not allowed to go any further, they stop in their tracks not knowing where to turn. Rather than go back to a country that endangers them, they become outcasts in a foreign country. Without food, without shelter, without family or community support, they stay on the streets or live in the wilderness, trying to stay alive.

When Lupe showed up at my door I had nothing to give her. 

I had boxes of food, true. But every one of them had already been committed to an orphanage we support. This orphanage does a beautiful job of raising 19 children with good nutrition, education, spiritual help and love, made possible with our assistance. 

We could not take the food from the children to help Lupe.

“But God told me you would help,” Lupe said.

So I told her, “If God said we would help, then God will make it happen.”

She was unsure. She said, “Your faith is so strong. You put me to shame.”

This happened on Tuesday.  She needed to deliver the food to the refugee families on Friday. She didn’t know what she was going to do or what would happen. 

Neither did I.

The next day we were scheduled to make a large delivery of food to the orphanage. When suddenly the director of the orphanage called me. “Ruben, I’m sick and cannot meet with you. We have to reschedule.”

All the food we had set aside for the orphanage was now available for Lupe. I quickly called her to give her the good news!

She showed up Friday morning with her van filled with bottles and cans.  She said, “I’m going to sell these recyclables to pay for the gas on the way to my hometown.” Her husband was out of work and this was the only way they could afford the gas.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later she was back with $15 from the recyclables – not enough to cover the cost of gas, but it was everything she had. When I learned how she was working to make this good deed happen, I knew I had to do more. I gave her $40 for gas. She was overcome with gratitude. She stretched out her hand to me and offered me the $15 she earned for the recyclables in thanks for the food.  

She took obvious joy in giving it to me. But I heard the Lord say, “Give her $10 back.” Of course I did!

So Lupe took off with a van loaded with food plus $50 for gas. She gave us her “widow’s mite” of $5, and you know God will bless her generosity! 

The director of the orphanage recovered. And a few days later we were resupplied with plenty of food for the orphans. We were able to meet our commitment to them. 

Lupe returned from her trip just beaming! She was so happy to have helped the refugees in her community. On top of that was the joy she felt knowing how God had provided. He kept His promise to her.

Along with all the food we gave her, I had picked up a small bicycle at a local thrift store. The thrift store donated it to us when I explained it would be going to a group of refugee children. Lupe brought back a video showing the children’s reaction to the bike and all the food they received. 

You can see it here:

These refugee children shouted "¡Diós le bendiga!" "God bless you!" as they shared the bike and the food we sent with Lupe. 

We are grateful to our generous supporters who make these joyous moments possible!

You can move mountains

Daniel was the first in his family to be able to attend college.

 He came from a long line of hard working men and women who struggled to make their children’s lives better than their own. His parents made education a priority for their son. They worked long hours cleaning houses to scrape together enough money for him to go to college. 

Daniel valued their struggle and their dreams. He was determined to lift his family out of poverty. He worked hard at school and got excellent grades. He even applied for and got a loan to help with his college costs. 

Daniel’s school was a demanding 4-year college that was too far away from home to walk. There was no local bus, so he used an old 13-year-old Ford that his uncle seldom used. 

 One day on his way home from school the car’s engine broke down, leaving him with no transportation. He desperately needed to get the car fixed. But it would take several months of his family’s saving to be able to afford the repairs. He saw no option but to drop out of college, get a job, and pay for the car repairs. 

The next day, Daniel’s mother told me he was forced to quit school. She was concerned about her son and her family’s hopes for the future. 

When I heard this, I quietly pulled Daniel aside to learn more. “My uncle’s old car broke down. After everything my family has done to make my education possible, I can’t ask them for money to fix it. They just don’t have it.  I’m going to have to look for a job I can walk to, so I can pay for the repairs.” 

Because he’d have to drop out of school he would have to pay back the entire school loan immediately. Plus the car repairs. “It will take me over a year to pay all of those costs.” He knew it meant he would not be able to continue his education.

His family’s hopes for the future would be crushed.

I prayed about how to help.

How can His Provision Ministry, as small as we are, take on the challenge and make a huge difference in a needy person’s life? Sometimes what looks like an impossible barrier, can be solved simply. Jesus taught us we could move mountains [impossible barriers] with faith:

"Have faith in God." “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ it will be done for him.” --  Mark 11:22, 23

He worked as hard as ever. He graduated with honors. He then went on to get graduate degrees and his psychologist’s license. Today, he is a well-respected Christian psychologist, helping hundreds of people through desperate problems. 

Daniel knew it was God who rescued him from hopelessness and put him back on the path to a bright future.

Every time you make a donation to His Provision Ministry, you are helping poor families like Daniel’s, or the elderly, single moms, the disabled, veterans, the homeless, the overlooked, and the discouraged move from despair to hope. 

It is something we are blessed to do every day by providing emergency help, and giving out clothing and nutritious food, toys and school supplies, fruit trees for community gardens, making referrals to other sources of help and taking the time to really listen and pray.

Here is an opportunity for you to help someone like Daniel transform their life -- an opportunity for you to move mountains. Won’t you also please pray, and consider what you can do to literally transform lives?

Off to Mexico at last!

At last we've received the funding and supplies for our much-anticipated trip to help and encourage families in Mexico. Along with hundreds of pounds of food, we are taking toys, school supplies and clothing to the kids.

Your generosity is also helping to build a community kitchen at the local church. Many of the homes don't have a kitchen, but a community kitchen at the church will provide nourishing meals among people who care.

We're leaving December 24 -- Christmas Eve, and will fill you in as the kitchen progresses.

Thank you for your prayers and donations. We know your generosity means a lot to the kids!

The Christmas Kitchen

Las Flores is one of the poorest areas of Mexico. Many of the homes there have nothing for a kitchen except a fire and a pot outdoors. When it rains they do without cooked food, or dangerously risk bringing the fire inside.

The church is vital as a source of spiritual nourishment as well as school and community center.

Thanks to our donors, we are partnering with a local church there to transform a scraggly corner of land into a community kitchen. 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. –Psalms 119:105

We have a special opportunity to donate much-needed items to several orphanages located in the hills above Ensenada, Mexico. One of our partner churches will get the children's names, sizes, age, and sex and we will provide shoes and clothes especially for each child, along with food, supplies, hope, connection, and the love of Christ. We're estimating a need for over 100 shoes and pairs of socks for children aged 5 - 18.

Amazingly, many of these children have never even seen new shoes.

We are seeking to buy some of the shoes in Mexico to help the economy there, as well as helping the kids. Please join with us by donating to this project. 

Donate

We'll be going sometime late summer and will keep you posted.