December 5, 2007

 

Dear Fellow Servant(s) in Christ:

 

For God so loved the world (John 3:16) that He did not send a committee.  Praise God He sent Jesus Christ!  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding (Ephesians 1:7-8).  Now we are God’s committee.  Him living in us and we representing Him.  When the Shepherds heard from the angel that “A Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord…” (Luke 2:9-11), they said, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about”.    In the same way, once the Lord has happened to us, we should be saying, “Let’s go” and tell someone about this great happening in our lives”!  Here at SITG we have been accomplishing the above through acts of kindness.  People are confused in our society to who Jesus is.  Through our giving, we are able to present the real message of our Savior. 

 

In the past few months, we have been spending most of our time on the Northside and in the Beechview area.  God in His marvelous way, opened up the floodgates of heaven and provided us with a house full of beautiful clothing for women.  (Thank you Suzanne!).  We were able to take several vans full of clothing to the lower income housing unit on Pressley Street.  There are 160 units here so there are plenty of women!  What glorious times we have had fitting the women with winter coats, dresses, pajamas, shoes, boots, etc.  The first time we were there it turned into a church service with us singing praises to God and one woman who had tried to commit suicide in the summer began to cry and we were able to minister to her the gospel and love of Christ.  Who knows what else happened that day!  Our job is to love and His is to draw them to Him.

 

Psalm 119 Ministries in the Beechview area has been referring to SITG single women (all have children) who are struggling with getting furniture and household items they need.  Since September, seven women have been helped.   One of these women thought we would be mad at her because her father was an atheist and she is an agnostic.  We were able to tell her that it

 was no accident that we were there that day because we were there to tell her truth (John 14:6).  That there is a God and Savior and His name is Jesus.  She didn’t receive Christ that day but we have an ongoing communication with her and she is softening.   Never a dull moment serving our Savior!  He is making us people of faith ~ not always sure what is going to happen next.  Last Friday, we were providing furniture and household items to a young lady who had nothing.  We have been encouraging those receiving our assistance to get helpers with moving the furniture, etc.  This is teaching them responsibility on their part.  When we arrived at her apartment, nobody was there and nobody ever showed up.  I (Ruth) said to the Lord, “This is hard work.  If this is part of what you want SITG to be doing, you are going to have to provide someone right now to help with this project”.   Two things happened instantly!   One, my cell phone rang and it was a friend of mine and she wanted to help load the furniture at the storage unit.  She didn’t even know we were moving someone that day!  Two, in my spirit I heard, “Ruth, if this was easy work, everyone would be doing it.”  Hearing this, I became passionate and energetic again!

 

In the area of ministering through God’s creative ways in the past two months:  groceries for an elderly couple, grocery card for single woman, lunch for our women in the mentor program  (Through Myriam’s, there are three women that we try to encourage once a month.), household items for several homeless people starting over in McKeesport, Wilkinsburg, Northside, and the Hill District.  A Shop N Save card and gas card was provided to a woman with four children whose husband is in prison; bus tickets for a young, unwed mother to get to the Pregnancy Resource Center;  a partial payment for a single mom to take her RN board exam test;  Giant Eagle card to a family struggling financially and spiritually; towels were purchased for a single woman; one young man at the low income apartment had no silverware ~ you blessed him;  groceries for a single woman with three children; two Giant Eagle gift cards for two individuals at Pressley Street project.  One of them asked, “Next time you come, can you bring some noodles because by the middle of the month our funds are low after paying for rent”.  These people are living on incomes that would surprise us.  We ministered to a woman divorced after 27 years, lost her job and health insurance, and she is taking care of her dad dying of cancer.  After much prayer and consideration, we felt led to buy a single woman with two teenagers living in the Sheridan area a new washer and gas line for a dryer.  This was extravagant for us, but in this particular situation, we felt it was right.   To finish, we blessed two teenagers struggling with life with small gift cards along with encouraging notes.  We are very careful with your contributions.  Our overhead costs are low.  Occasionally, we purchase fuel for the vans and trucks.  Also, there are minimal costs to get our letter out to you.  That’s it!

 

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for believing in what God has called Standing In The Gap to do.  We are growing because it is God’s heart and you are responding! 

 

                                                                                    Because He cares, gives & lives,

 

Contributions are tax deductible under Federal Income Tax Section 501 (c) (3)