The Beginnings of Living Water

Julie Simmons asked me to share the beginnings of Living Water Benevolence Ministry, Inc. with you. So here it is:

Andy, my visionary husband, had a dream about 10 years ago to begin a benevolence ministry in Borger in which all of the evangelical churches could participate. At the time, Andy was the youth pastor at First Baptist Church. But he also handled the benevolence in our church and he was very frustrated at the amount of time that ministry consumed. He was also frustrated knowing that people in need were having to go from church to church to get the help they needed to pay one bill. So Andy brought the need before our deacon body and asked them to consider beginning this ministry. But it sat on the table for about 5 years. Andy is a visionary, but he's not a "make-it-happen-kind-0f-guy." But a man in our church, Conny Moore, was the person who made it happen! He knew who to go to to get the papers filed and how to get people involved to make it happen. He was incredible (still is!). He got the men in our church very excited about the ministry and they sent letters to every evangelical church in our community asking them to join us. Soon, a woman in our church donated a building to us to house Living Water. But it needed a lot of work and we had men that worked on this building for months getting it ready. They hired Vonna Humphries as our first Executive Director and formed a board and established the by-laws. By October of 2003, it was off and running! At first, it was just First Baptist Church that supported this ministry. But soon, other churches saw the benefit of having all of the benevolence resources in one place and began contributing and volunteering. Soon, we had 7 churches involved. And then in about 2006, Conny took the initiative to apply for money from United Way. We began receiving about $10,000 a year to use to buy food and help pay utility bills for our clients. Vonna stepped down as Executive Director in February of 2007 and I stepped in.

I became the full-time Executive Director of Living Water in March, 2007. I have loved it! Living Water helps people with a limited amount for utility bills. We also provide food every Friday for those in need. The only prerequisite is to provide us with a Social Security card for everyone in their household. They can come for 10 weeks and if they still have a need after those ten weeks, they have to provide us with a letter from a pastor saying they still have a need. Our objective is to get them involved in a church. We have a wonderful clothing room that is set up like a department store. People can come and "shop" for clothing once a month. And actually, everything at Living Water is free. When K-Mart closed in Borger, they donated our shelving units and clothing racks. J.C. Penney donated our hangers. We also have a chapel service on Friday mornings before we hand out the food. Most of our salvation decisions are made in that service or when I counsel people as I help them with their utility bills.

We purchase our food from High Plains Food Bank in Amarillo at $.16/lb. Quite a bargain!!

Last June, we were hurting financially. In fact, one week, we had to put a sign on our door that we had no money to help with utility bills. But since then, we had a former client donate money to buy turkeys for everyone at Thanksgiving and that seemed to challenge everyone in their giving to Living Water. God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? It's been so much fun to be at the center of this ministry and see what God does day in and day out.

Before I became the director, I'd been praying that God would put me in a place where I would be around lost people--and where I could share my faith. Has He ever answered!!

Paradigm Shift

Where to start? God's been working in my heart. Maybe I need to start at the beginning.
Even as a small child, I had a very strong sense of right and wrong. I think God's had His hand on me for a very, very long time.
My spiritual gift is prophecy. That gift is a truth proclaimer. I love Truth! And that gift also has a clear knowledge or understanding of right and wrong.
I am also a mostly choleric personality. The choleric personality is highly motivated, loves to lead and is strong-willed.
So...there you have a short-version of me. My mother, siblings, husband and children will attest to all of the above. Of course, I left off the negatives of these....you'll just have to study it on your own to figure those out--I don't have to tell everything! But suffice it to say, I have a strong personality. And I'm pretty hard-headed and outspoken. Ok...very.
I can remember being in my 20's and hearing about people caught up in certain sins and (honestly!) my thought would be: "I would never do that." And I really thought I was above those sins. But then one night, I had a dream from the Lord. Ever had one? Trust me...you'd know. And you'd never forget it. In that dream, I was caught up in a sin. A serious sin. And I was trying to hide it. I'd taken this sin to a male friend of mine (also a prophet!) who wouldn't allow me to hide my sin on his property. When I woke up, I was overwhelmed with the "knowing" in my heart that I was truly capable of ANY sin! That dream changed my life dramatically. I became much less judgmental and a little more cautious.
In my 30's, I began a spiritual walk with a friend and God began speaking to us in so many different ways. And through that walk, I became much more compassionate toward people who were hurting. I began to look past the awful things people would say to the hurts in their hearts. My own heart was softening. And trust me...it needed softening!
In my 30's & 40's, I heard some incredible spiritual giants speak. People like Bill & Anabel Gillham, Peter Lord, Major Ian Thomas, and Al Whittinghill. The truth they taught helped shape me.
I believe in each decade of my life, I've had a paradigm shift. (Or maybe it's just going from glory to glory!) And now I'm in my 50's. What is changing me now? What is shaping me? I'd have to say God has used many things. I think one of the biggest things that has changed me is observing others. You see, it's so easy for a person with my gift and my personality to think they're always "right!" (I can imagine some of you shaking your heads and thinking: "Are you kidding me?!? How can anyone think they're right all the time?" If you don't have this gift or this personality, you're just not going to understand. But for those of you who do, it's striking a chord in your heart.) It's also easy for a person with my gift and personality to just assume what's going on and jump in to take control--even without hearing people out. And even worse--without hearing God.
What I've observed lately are people who are blind to their own deception. It's caused me to take a step back and ask, "Am I walking in Truth? Is what I believe in line with God's Word? Am I deceived in any way?" I've come to believe at a deeper level that I'm not always right and that I am capable of, and have been, deceived. I've seen my own control issues. God has revealed my heart to me. ("The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9) It's causing me to look at everything I think about and everything I do in a new way and with new eyes. It's making me much more cautious. I hope it's filling me with grace. I know it's opening my heart to love those that I haven't really loved. It's so easy for a person with the gift of prophecy to speak truth...but not so easy to speak truth in love.
So...once again my paradigm has shifted. I'm looking at the world with new eyes and from a new perspective. I'm trying to be slower to assume. I want to analyze my motives and my actions. I want to walk in love. I'm testing my heart. And I've made this my prayer: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24.
Another thing that has helped me is to realize we're all on a journey. I want to grace everyone on their own journeys! I know how hard it's been for me to "get" some of these truths. I know how long it's taken for God to be able to get through to me on some issues. So I want to extend you that same grace.
Thank you, God, for the work you're doing in my life. Please feel free to keep changing me, Mold me into the likeness of your son!! Make me a pure bride for him. I love you, Daddy! And I trust you.
In Jesus' name, Amen.

In case you're wondering...

I've kept up the new habit of putting flowers by my bed. I absolutely LOVE them!! Every week (or longer--depending on how the flowers last), I put something new and different. It really lifts my spirit when I walk in and see them.

Aren't they beautiful? And Andy swears he's been having a dream almost every night!

More Living Water

What a day! We started our food give-away back up today---after the holiday break. It was a bit overwhelming. We start all over the first week in January---everyone gets a new card which means we have to get everyone's information all over again. It takes a long time. And there were just lots of questions for me today from every direction. The exciting thing is that about 5 or 6 people had praises that they wanted to share during our prayer time! They're seeing God at work in their own lives. It's just amazing. Incredible things are happening!! Gib preached today and 3 people prayed to receive Christ. God is good.
When the dust cleared, our office volunteer decided to look at the past 2 years and to see how many people we'd had the 1st week of January. (I love statistics!!) In 2007, we had 16 people. In 2008, we had 40 people. And today, we had 64 people!! Is that not amazing? I think it's a sign of things to come.
Another exciting thing is that 3 women came up to me after they got their groceries and asked when they could come volunteer at Living Water. I'm telling you...lives are being changed.

A Living Water Beauty

A Day at Living Water

I think everyone in Borger made a New Year's Resolution to clean out their closets!

Don't you LOVE blogging??

I do!! I can't imagine life without blogging now. I've always been a "writer." I've written letters forever. In fact, I remember sending Andy a STACK of letters at one time when we were dating. He was on a 3 month tour with the Royalheirs. (Really! How much can you say???) I began journalling 15 years ago. I still have all of my journals and have left instructions for Amy to come collect them if I die! ha! And now...why do I care? I put all of my thoughts out there for the whole world to read!!
But I love reading other people's blogs. I have "sisters" all over the country that I may never meet face-to-face, but I'm getting to know them through their blogs. And I have friends that I've lost touch with and am getting reacquainted with them through blogging. I also have some young preachers that I check out---I love their spiritual insight. I don't know how I'd be handling have a daughter thousands of miles from me (it is thousands, right? It feels like thousands!) if I couldn't read her blog every day and see pictures of those grandkids just as often!! (I may have more grandkids living further away in the near future, too!)
So...Marcy Faye. Thank you. Thank you for convincing me that I would love this. Thank you for dragging me into the blogging world when I wasn't sure how to set it up or make it cute. It's enlarged my world and given me insight into other people's lives. It's helped me focus my own thoughts. It's stretched me spiritually as younger women/men challenge me. I love blogging!!

Be holy

I can't give up this thought process about holiness yet. It seems we have some of the same problems that were going on in the Roman & Corinthian church in Paul's day. In Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8, Paul is addressing eating food offered to idols. He tells the people it's ok to eat food offered to idols, but if eating that food causes a brother to stumble, you aren't walking in love. He also says that if you eat and you have any doubts about eating, you stand condemned before the Lord because you're not being true to your convictions and you don't act out of faith. He instructs the people to walk in love towards their brothers. I Corinthians 8:9 says, "Only be careful that this power of choice (this permission and liberty to do as you please) which is yours, does not (somehow) become a hindrance (cause of stumbling) to the weak or overscrupulous (giving them an impulse to sin)."
My point is that we should live holy lives. We should love our Christian brothers and sisters more than ourselves---and especially more than food offered to idols!! Actually, that's what Paul says in Romans 14:17, "[After all] the kingdom of God is not a matter of [getting the] food and drink [one likes], but instead it is righteousness (that state which makes a person acceptable to God) and [heart] peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
I'm learning that I'm a very selfish person. I think about myself more than I do others. This year, I want to live a holy life--a life set apart for Christ. I want to love others more than I do myself. As I see the day of the Lord approaching, I want to be looking up and I want to be a pure bride ready to receive my bridegroom! I want to be holy as He is holy.
I Corinthians 6:12
"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything.