Author: Justin Mullin

So much to write!

Hearts are being stirred and new crew members are jumping on board! Praise God! After working together in the storage room, one of them said,  “It was so much fun. I feel like I have a purpose now”. 

One of our swimmers is in rehab at Fairview- at the request of her Life Preserver. Praise God! She sounds so much better than before. Now she has been diagnosed and is being counseled. Please pray that she will have strength and trust in the Lord while she battles with her past.

Another swimmer was moved from a motel to an apartment last week. She asked for a prayer of blessing on her new place as she starts her life fresh. She is trying to quit smoking and during the whole move she was praising God. What a beautiful thing! Please pray that she also finds rest in the Lord and is renewed. She is interested in attending church again too. The R&R delivery crew was awesome as they rescued her things from storage (the locks had been changed and somehow she  found someone with a new key while the delivery crew was there) and brought essential donated furniture to her new place.

A Reach & Restore family went to court to fight a landlord dispute and the landlord didn’t show. It’s looking good for the R&R family and the deposit plus some will probably be returned. This is a huge answer to prayer. With only a few hundred dollars to live on a month, this payment is very important!

A family that was without beds and other basic furnishings since mid summer was blessed by donations from R&R. Five beds were donated and now they can sleep soundly. They also received a washer and dryer. “My faith in people and God has been renewed. I wish there was a way to repay you. Our place finally feels like home.”  Nothing is expected back when we give. It is a blessing to see lives changed by very simple things.  When the washer and dryer were dropped off the kids were literally dancing and doing back flips in the front yard! 

A woman that we are trying to help organize her home has been sick so that project is delayed for now. There is some depression too. “Thank you for all of your thoughts. They really help me”. she said. Please pray for a window of opportunity to finish the goal or she will lose her home without the reverse mortgage which is leaning on this. The stress and anxiety is freezing things for her.  

Some new referrals too… one last week and 4 this week!

Tomorrow we will be delivering a bed and household items to a 23 year old who is basically escaping her family and on her own for the first time. Her family will not allow her access to her things so R&R is stepping in. She also had knee surgery last week and her air mattress sprung a leak a few days ago. She said she is bored out of her mind with nothing in her place. A tea pot and a few plastic cups, a borrowed tv that changed channels by itself and a few other items.   She is so excited to be able to sit on furniture she can hardly stand it! She said she has felt so lonely and is glad to have someone to ask for advice.

 Two of the new referrals will be needing everything to start over also. One is a family of 9 who had a house fire. Hence the long list of clothing needed on the front page of this website. We are waiting to see where they will end up.  Another is someone who is new to the area and we’ll be learning more soon.

We got a call about a family who is going through foreclosure and has to be out of their home by Wed.  R&R was asked if we knew of any resources for them. The dad just abandoned the mom and 2 kids taking all of their money with him. The mom is in shock and now has to deal with the situation alone without any money available. We got in touch with Families Moving Forward and a miracle happened… there is usually a waiting list for new families to go to this unique shelter but that same day a family of 3 had just left the shelter leaving a spot for 3 to come!  There will be the normal screening process but please pray that this will be the answer to their temporary homelessness! A time to sort out what will be next and for the mom to find work.  R&R may be helping with packing/moving. Not sure yet, but God is at work! 

 In the near future a few ladies will be helping a new R&R family straighten out their apt.  They just had to move from a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom and the mom is depressed from post pardom and is currently pregnant with another. Overwhelmed and tired with toddlers running around and limited space, she needs support.  Please pray for this opportunity to shine a ray of hope and peace into this family.  

A few families were helped with housing leads, winter coats, and another family was connected with a church for Christmas Dinner Food. That was their Christmas wish. To have a nice meal for her kids! Was that ever humbling to hear. A church was called in their area and hopefully they will follow through. It was interesting that the associate pastor didn’t know that their church was helping with that sort of thing and their secretary did… hmmm. 

A local women’s shelter will be writing a little blurb about R&R soon. This is very encouraging!Evidently the workers and clients feel that R&R is a great resource for them and what has been done is very appreciated. It’s so neat to have these connections in the community! 

Next week we will be asking for families to “adopt” specific R&R people or families for Christmas.

Wow. Things are really busy!

God is using people to bless others and is providing in amazing ways!

There was a new R&R family that needed 5 beds and another which needed 2 a few weeks ago. This came all within a day or so and there were only 2 beds in storage. The awesome thing was that the beds that were in storage were a bunk with a full on the bottom. The mother of the kids said her older boy would be thrilled to have a full sized bed! Especially since he didn’t appreciate having to share a bedroom with his 6 yr old brother. This would give them both their “own” space within the room.

Anyway,  an ad was placed online for the request of beds and within a few hours, a man who owns a storage facility said he had a bunch of mattresses we could have that were left by people who didn’t pay their rent!  What is so interesting about this is, the mattresses were coming from families just like who we have helped. 

The man who is recovering from a car accident has had cleaning assistance, the woman who was desperate for organization help has had R&R visitors and the project will begin this week.

Both are seeing God provide help during their humbling situations. Praise God that the gentleman is starting to feel healing of his neck. Please pray for the woman’s anxiety to ease up and her embarrassment to cease while the cleaning occurs. She is beside herself that someone is willing to help without charging her money.

“You must have an extra long pipeline to God! That is amazing!” Commented a social worker after God’s timing was obvious!  The man who tried the wheelchair felt it was a bit too painful to use so it was returned and sitting in storage. It sat and was debated whether or not it should be sold for a week or so. Our church didn’t need it but the prompting came to ask one of our social worker connections.  That’s when the miracle happened. This social worker was on her way to a new client who had a 10 yr old son with CP. He had been borrowing a wheelchair at school and didn’t have one at home!  That’s when the comment was made…  The wheelchair was delivered that afternoon and the mother was in tears. As the visit went on, the mom said, ” I know you’re religious. That was from God.” There was a conversation about churches and she has a desire to visit. Coming from a Greek heritage, she said she had to give me a gift before leaving. She walked around her place and handed me a picture of 2 saints. I told her thank you and assured her she didn’t need to give me anything. She got up and searched “for something better”.  She came back with a crucifix and said,” my brother is a monk in Greece. He made this there. I have another one, you have this one.”  What a humbling thing!  At the departure, I received a kiss on each cheek and a hug.  This meeting was much more a blessing to me!

This past week has been pretty crazy. What an awesome thing to see a bunch of families from our church come together and help a woman pack up her duplex for moving. She is recovering from cancer surgery and an infection in her leg. The children were working with the adults and the job was done in a few hours. A man from church loaned his trailer to be packed up. There was more to be done but a beautiful thing to see tears of relief and joy and praising the Lord as the group left. Someone looked into the sky and saw two clouds in the shape of a cross!  We have a picture of it. It sure felt like a confirmation from above that His body was obeying.

At the time of the packing, this family still had no place to go from there. In a few days, they had to be completely out. On the day the family had to be out, a new housing option was found but the move wasn’t able to occur for 4 days. This left them in a panic. There were still things to get off of the property and store somewhere for 4 days.  The Lord is good…the new landlord offered them his storage unit for the 4 days!  Now the challenge was moving it. That night and the next, the delivery crew worked on this. During the last transfer, the small Uhaul that was rented broke down on the way to storage! The delivery helper quickly went to the Uhaul office and arrived just after closing. Rapping on the window, got the attention of someone inside. A replacement truck was provided!  This was a very trying evening for all but again, the Lord had His hand in it!  Today, the family will move into their new place and finally be able to breathe! The financial assistance came through in time for the deposit. Praise God. During this down time, the mother has been mending a relationship with her eldest son!