How it began for me…

From a divine moment of being attentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, a simple little ministry of hope was born, “Bread of Hope”.  My inspiration came from John 6:35, Jesus, the bread of life and the living water. Driving around my neighbourhood, I could see the desperation of hunger and thirst among those living “rough” or unhoused. The need is physical and spiritual.  My heart breaks for the things that break the heart of God, but what could I do about such overwhelming suffering? God answered with a call to an act of kindness, a show of mercy,  an offer of compassion, a gesture of empathy and feed His children one person at a time. I understood this to be like a “John the Baptist” call of preparing the way or planting a seed for others to come along and till the soil.

So it began. The number 12 spoke to my heart because of the twelve sons of Jacob forming the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles and the tree of life bearing twelve fruits annually.  So, the little ministry of hope is bringing 12 loaves of bread and bottled water to friends I meet along the way to errands throughout the week.  Before I leave, I pray that God would direct my path to divine appointments.  The blessings from these encounters are reciprocal.  Building a relationship with vulnerable people takes time, trust, respect and love.  There is much I am learning from my friends, but two vitally important lessons are listening and but for the grace of God, there go I… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)