It has been absolutely amazing to sit back and watch God at work. Well, I guess sit back was not the right words to use because we have been full speed ahead trying to keep up! But there have been a few moments in the early mornings, in which I have stood on the balcony of our Center of Dreams with my coffee looking across our campus, just in awe at the “good works” that Christ Jesus has done through us. Pastor Benton, our home Pastor reminded us during our Bible study in Ephesians 2:8-10, that without God’s free gift of salvation through faith and not of any work that we can do to achieve salvation on our own, but we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works after our salvation. Looking at our campus with this view and all the good works, I know we are on the ordained path God has for us.
Along with these good works comes the fiery darts and attacks from (satan). (I never and will never capitalize his name, other than to remind him who’s side I am on and that he is going to HELL). But isn’t it amazing when God does great and might things through us, here comes the devil or his demons, to try and get our focus off the good works Christ Jesus is doing through us. Here is how to deal with these people, in 2 Timothy 4:14 Timothy tells us of such a person briefly that did him much evil and how he handled it: “Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works”. This verse can be turned into a powerful and liberating prayer. I have almost 2 handfuls of names I can put there instead of Alexander. The Bible warns us not to rejoice when our enemies fall lest God remove his hand of wrath from them, rather pray for God to reward them according to their works. Then the hardest thing to do, especially if these people keep attacking over and over again, is just stay calm and leave it in the hands of Jesus. God will have justice one day, we may not see it here, but folks will be rewarded according to their good works, or evil here on Earth, when we see Jesus in Heaven. This was not the direction that I had planned for this ministry update to go, but God allowed this to flow through me, for me, and possible someone else in the future who reads this. May the Lord reward those who do us evil, according to their own works. Moving on, I hope that helped someone, it did me.
These are just a few of the precious children we have come to love at our Center of Dreams feeding program. Three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the children come for lunch, Bible stories, games and fun. We have anywhere from 85-95 children each day and had to move everything from the dining hall to the patio because we had no more space. However, now with the hottest weather of the year coming in April and May, there is an urgent need to finish the construction of our new center called Willow’s Place.
Willow’s Place is lovingly named after our late granddaughter which you can read more about her and our son Ben’s story on our website. Ben by the way is spending a lot of time in Guatemala helping to run the ministry, so God has been healing our family by serving HIM.
The first floor will be our new medical center, no longer can we call it a clinic. We will have 4 exam rooms, a nutrition area, a medical laboratory, an imaging center, a dental clinic, and a small surgery center, we also have additional space for future use such as dermatology, and physical therapy. On the second floor will be Willow’s Place. This will be a fun filled area with games, educational activities, a lot of room for our dining hall, a commercial kitchen, and more bathrooms. With this additional space we hope to expand our programs even more to offer additional classes. We are also planning on starting a church in this space until we can build the church and school that is already designed and planned for the future.
Our immediate need is to put a roof on this part of the building. The cost for the steel roof is $7800. We are asking folks to help with any donations they can, every dollar helps. We are on the last phase of this project with the last building under construction which will be the medical lab, imaging center, dental clinic, and surgery center on the first floor, kitchen, bathrooms, storage, and ministry office on the second floor. We need to raise an additional $10,000 to build this last 1500 square feet of ministry space. That does not include the kitchen equipment, or anything else, this is just the building cost. I have no doubt that God will supply, HE always does, right on time.
This is why we do what we do. To not only feed their bellies, but to feed their souls, that one day the stories of faith they learn like they did about Noah, they will put their faith in Jesus for their salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. And once they are saved, they also can join in and maybe be future teachers at Willow’s Place, sharing the good works God is doing through them. Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Our goal is to inspire dreams, inspire service, and always pointing to the cross and what Jesus did for us to give us this free gift of salvation. A special thank you to Pastor Benton for the reminder and the inspiration, keep on teaching and preaching with passion from the KJV Bible.
