Be an answer to prayer!

Have you ever felt in your heart that you were being led to do something? During my time as a church youth leader I would explain to my kids that when that happens it is God speaking to you. God will tug at our hearts when we encounter things that He would like us to impact. This kind of thing has happened to me on more than one occasion.

It happened again.

I was on my way home listening to an NPR year-end round up of 2016's big news stories. The reporter had covered the 1000 year flooding in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area back in August and he was talking with the same woman some four months after the initial event. The woman's name is Lindy Eisenberg and she is a member of Christ's Community Church in Denham Springs, LA. As I listened to her talk about how the church was continuing to serve not only the families in their church who were flooded, but anyone who comes to them for help, I was moved.

It was a Holy Spirit thing.

Here is a quote from that NPR interview in December:

SHAPIRO (reporter): First, tell us about what your church is doing these days. Are you still helping people recover?

EISENBERG: Oh, absolutely. We have just within our church alone 117 families who had flooded. And these days, we are doing everything from going in their houses and still helping them. Some people are still demolishing. We're helping rebuild. And we're also even driving as far as Gulfport, Miss., Orange Beach, Fla., to pick up donations of furniture. Or, for example, today my husband's driving to Lafayette, La., to pick up some dog food.

Then a little later in the interview there was this...

SHAPIRO (reporter): When I met you in August, you had been running for days, and there was clearly a lot of adrenaline. Now that some of that has worn off, does it ever just feel overwhelming - the amount that has to be done?

EISENBERG: Oh, daily, daily. It's - and that hasn't - depending on the day, that really hasn't worn off because every day there's something. There's something we're working on. When you have that many people, when you have almost 90 percent of our community who are affected, there is rarely a day where we are not leaving our nine-to-fives and going to somebody's house to help with a sink or to help with - you just never know what you're going to be working with. So it is overwhelming, but we've seen miracle after miracle of just knowing that God's going to continue to provide our needs. And so it's not so much a worry as just a - OK, let's be patient.

Lindy's response still brings me to the verge of tears. I mean here is someone in the midst of recovering from a disaster and she is still hanging on to God's promises. I later learned that she isn't the only one in the Christ's Community Church who believes this way.

I went to their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Christs-Community-Church-of-Denham-Springs-354684367968753/?fref=ts) where I was introduced to Shannon Easley. Shannon is the pastor's wife and she was/and is a strong witness for what God is doing in and through Christ's Community Church in Southeast Louisiana.

She tells of how the church turned their sanctuary into a place for people who had been flooded out to sleep as well as provide space for their pets. She talked about, how much like Jesus did in Matthew chapter 14, they were able to use a very small amount of food to feed a large group of people and still have food leftover. She then explained how a need for medical care was met when a doctor and his family who were on their way to Disney World were stranded by flooding, came to their doorstep, and were able to treat the ill evacuees.

As a stumbling follower of the King I think that this church gets it. They get what it means to live out the Gospel. The really do love their neighbors and put the needs of others ahead of their own. When the Holy Spirit is present and living in and through believers this must be what it looks like. I was, and continue to be inspired by what God is doing in and through Christ's Community Church in Denham Springs, Louisiana.

With God showing up in that way, who wouldn't want to be a part of something like that? But what can we do?

Well, first and foremost I think that we can do nothing more important than to pray for what God is doing in the midst of the trials that our brothers and sisters are going through. So I ask you... please join me in praying for this church, and the people of Denham Springs that God would continue to show up in an amazing way and bring His healing.

Then I started a crowdfunding webpage where every penny raised will go to Christ's Community Church to help those who continue to struggle. People are living in tents, their gutted homes or in some cases crowded into the homes of friends and family while working on their homes. Shannon Easley told me in a text that they had gotten their hands on three trailers of used furniture and it was all gone in 10 minutes. There is a great need for beds, bedding, chests of drawers, and furniture of all kinds. So I figured that instead of sending furniture we could send money that could be best put to use by those who know the needs.

Here it is, a chance to be the answer to someone's prayers. I can't think of something that I would rather be. How about you?

Here is the link to the donation site. www.youcaring.com/christscommunitychurch-728099
Please share it on your Facebook pages and via email with anyone and everyone you might know. Even donations of $5 dollars can have a huge impact when we put the money to use in God's Kingdom.

Who's in? I am.

Blessings,
Bry