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I had an amazing weekend. Saturday I was involved in the Feed the Community outreach. We started at the church and gathered 500 boxes of food. In each box was dry goods, rice, pasta, canned food. Next we went to the neighborhood where the outreach took place. There were approximately 200 folks who volunteered. They divided us up into 6 groups of people and then we split up into teams of 4 people. Each team had the opportunity to deliver 8 boxes of food. My team ended up delivering 4 boxes of food and speaking to 5 families or individuals. We also had the New Testament in English and the Gospel of John in Spanish because it is a mixed culture neighborhood. We were able to pray for and encourage each of the individuals we met. It was truly an awesome day and it was followed up by a huge block party for the neighborhood the next day. Our church has committed to adopting this neighborhood to flood it with the Gospel and see people come to a saving knowledge of jesus Christ! It's such a privilege to be involved in the Lord's work. :)

Sunday I woke up energized and totally excited to go to the Refuge. I missed the previous week due to my little dog having a GI bleed. I'm just so on fire for the Lord the last couple of weeks. He totally blew new life onto the fire in my heart when He spoke to me two weeks ago. I'm waking up with a new sense of purpose, wanting to do my best to serve Him. I'm really discovering my gift of mercy and how it works for me through prayer and encouragement. I don't consider myself to be a "prayer warrior" when it comes to praying for the world in general, but when I get together with people in person who have needs, I've learned how encouraging prayer is for folks. So every Sunday, I usually pick up one or two women to go to the Refuge with me. I picked up one of my friends and she told me what a hard week she had and I said, "let's pray." We got to the Refuge and started talking to a fella about his week and I said, "let's pray." Then I talked to another fella who is finally off drugs and living in a home and I said, "let's pray." What an awesome experience! After church, at Celebrate Recovery, a Christ centered 12 step program I serve at, I gave my testimony and thanked and praised God for all He has led me through to be who I am today. My day ended spending time with one of my best friends and hearing all about the awesome man of God she's met, who she thinks the Lord is leading her to marry. God is so good and He blessed me with the best weekend I've had in ages!