Thursday, July 23, 2009

Extremely Busy

There are days lately when I feel like I can't even find the time to sleep because I have so many things going on. God has been so good to me this summer, opening up doors for me to do the things that fill my heart, while fulfilling His work at the same time. I started out gathering coats and blankets a few months ago, and since starting this, I have seen God turn smaller donations into larger donations and now I have to have someone start to help me, or I'll never find the time to get it all done. I have sorted and bagged a lot of them already, but I have stuff sitting in my hallway, as well as my carport. The connections I have made by going out and talking to people have been great, and God has directed me to Christians who not only need my help, but are able to help me as well. Through this, I see myself growing by leaps and bounds. The once quiet lady who wouldn't talk to strangers, is now walking up and not only talking, but learning to sell my concept of giving back to the community. There has been a lot of reception to this concept, because the economy is so hard pressed right now, but the concept is nothing new. Its something we should be practicing every day as Christians. I see how God is changing my heart more and more as I do this, and others are noticing my changes also. I think it almost worries them that I'm opening my doors to stray animals, and going out and giving back to people on the streets because many people think its just a phase, and once you get over the niceties, then you'll be too overwhelmed and will quit, because its just too much to handle. I don't feel that way, and find it hard to respond when someone approaches me and asks me "What are you doing" as though I've gone off the deep end or something. The great part about this is, that its not me, but God doing all the changing, or rather, molding what He already knew was inside me, to make it better as I go. I get excited when I see Him open doors to places I would never have gone before, and more so, when the person He sends me to responds to me as though they have been waiting all along to talk to me, and they're not surprised to see me show up at their door, even though they've never even met me before. I've met some wonderful people along the way, as well as people who are willing to help only because they think its something the "should" do, not because their heart is really into it. He's shown me how people can be, and also shown me how "I" can be when my heart is not in the right place. I have to work hard not to make this about me, and just sit back and wait on God to open the doors. I find that when I try to open the doors, they are not what they should be and it doesn't work as well. I don;t know what Gods plans are for all of this, I'm just doing the work, and "waiting" on him to open the doors as He feels the need to do so. I finally got a response back from City Hall, in regards to an email I had sent out a month ago. I had completely forgotten about it until yesterday. I was thinking about the clothing I had gathered, but also the fact that I had not gotten as many coats and blankets as I would have liked at this point. As I was thinking about this, an email popped up on my screen in response to the email I had sent out a month ago, and I have been given the go-ahead to have an email sent out to all the departments in the City in regards to doing a summer collections of blankets and coats to be distributed to the homeless in the fall. God is good, and when you wait on Him, He does things exactly in the time that He feels they need to happen. What an Awesome God we Have!!!!

4 comments:

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Katrena:)

I am thrilled to read that you are doing wonderful work for the poor people. It is also fantastic to note you are now not afraid of meeting strangers and talking to them.

I’m aware you are doing a job plus you have to take care of your son and also the pets at home. In addition you have undertaken to do this massive work for the poor people. God is truly giving you the courage, strength and grace to do HIS work. It is said that when you help the poor and suffering people you are helping God because God lives amongst the poor.

I am not at all surprised that you don’t get time to sleep and the house is stacked with blankets and coats. But you are doing God’s work and surely he is blessing you with the assistant and the email. If you really look at it, very few of us get the calling. Many times I wanted to help poor people in my own small way but I never got an opening. So I believe that God has specially chosen you.

I wish you all the best in this wonderful , noble endeavor of yours and my prayers for all success.
Joseph:)

Kat said...

I am blessed with His work. I love it, even when I'm so tired I can't even function. I slept most all of Saturday out of pure exhaustion. We served at City Gate on Friday night, and the 3 hours that we put in there were incredibly busy, but worth every step I took. We served over a hundred people in just over an hour. For the most part, only 3 of us are running food, water and coffee to each person, as we serve them restaurant style, and we go back until they dont need any thing else. Plus I helped set up the food because I was there early, and the guy cooking was new to doing this on his own. Plus we had to clean up the entire serving area when we were done. Its worth it though.... I am the blessed one and not the other way around. Sleep will happen when it happens, and until then, I keep going. Have a wonderful afternoon and thanks for stopping in. Also, I am adding pictures to my photo page as I go, so stop by every once in a while, and you might see something new. God Bless you Joseph!!

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Katrena:)

Many, many thanks for leaving an excellent comment in my post and also in Rain's post.

God bless you Kat,
Joseph:)

G Lucciano said...

What a MIGHTY GOD!!!
I enjoyed this..