Working in a food bank affords one the opportunity to see God work far more closely and intimately than almost anywhere else. The following instances come to mind, connected with the same lady.
When we received 'odd' donations, such as items of hardware, or shampoo, or the like, we would put them in our 'assorted, miscellaneous' bin, and as the helpers were placing the canned goods in the bags for the different sized families that would come, they would often find on the list the word 'miscellaneous', which meant that they were to just grab any item out of that bin, and put it into that bag or box.
Sometimes the items would be divided into male or female items, and dispersed accordingly, depending upon the type of item it was. Usually, however, the miscellaneous items were just put in the bag, without actually considering where they were going. We didn't usually have the time to actually think about it.
One day, as i was sitting in my office taking phone calls and meeting with prospective clients, i got a tap on my door, and a lady came in, holding a can of mosquito repellent.
She sat down, with tears in her eyes, and said, "How did you know?"
To which i responded, "Know what?", not being quite sure what she was talking about.
Well, here's the story.
This lady, a 56 year old cancer survivor with grandchildren, had recently moved into our area, and was related in some way to a private business person in the area, who'd told her that he could put her to work, picking pine cones in the bush.
Desperate for some cash, she'd driven from Saskatchewan, and with her friends, had gone into the bush to spend her days, picking pine cones from the branches of trees that had been cut down. A city girl, with very sweet blood, she was a prime target for every mosquito in the whole forest it seemed, and she was absolutely covered in mosquito bites.
With tears in her eyes, she said that she'd come in that day, praying that somehow she would find the money to buy herself a can of bug stuff, in order to make her life in the bush a bit more tolerable.
She wondered how we knew.
I explained to her gently that we didn't, but God did.
I told her how we gathered together every week as a volunteer staff, and prayed for the clients of the food bank, handing them into the hands of the Lord, asking Him to supply their needs according to His riches in glory. Asking Him to make sure that the things that they specifically needed would get into their bags or boxes.
I told her how we prayed that God would guide the hands of the packers to choose just the right thing for every hamper, knowing that there was no way we could know what they needed. But God knew.
And it was God who'd heard her weeping for mosquito repellent, and God who guided the hand of the person who'd packed her hamper, God who ensured that she would receive that specific bag.
Only God could have done that! How in the world would we know? In my human-ness, i was lucky to remember all these peoples' names, let alone the fact that they needed bug stuff!
As we talked, this precious saint spoke of another time when she'd been been desperately seeking God's help, because two of her light bulbs in her apartment had burnt out at the same time, and she'd had no money for light bulbs.
In her bag from the food bank that week had been a random item, from our miscellaneous shelf - a pack of lightbulbs! How did we KNOW?
It was time to rejoice in the Lord! I shared with her how much God loved her, and how much God cares about the small details of our lives. He is the God who created the flowers and the bees and with all the minute details of creation, how much more does He care for us, His children?!
He counts the hairs on our heads, He clothes the lilies of the fields, how much more then does He care for us - have no fear, little flock, for the Father is pleased to give us His Kingdom. His Kingdom is the place where loaves and fish multiply, where mosquito repellent is a requirement, and where light bulbs are a matter of concern!
Thank You Lord!
