Spaghetti Dinner Beatdown- Day 21 of Food

I quit fasting for 2 glorious hours. And here is my reason.
Fellowship.

In January of this year the Lord led me to open my home to my friends, church family and many others. He prompted me to offer a meal. No strings attached. So I could sit down and eat and foster old friendships and create new ones!

Since January we have a family come nearly every Saturday or Sunday evening and we eat the same meal. Spaghetti/meat sauce and a bombdiggity recipe for Garlic Parmesan Cheese bread that I found somewhere online. Some people bring a dessert. Some bring a salad. But most importantly they just come. We sit, we eat, we take time together! It's lovely.

Some of you may wonder what is the big deal...well for many years , nearly 15 of my 17 years of marriage I did NOT open my home to others. Sure I would go to friends houses for cookouts, birthdays, baby showers. But most of the time I just stayed home. I suffer  suffered from Social Anxiety Disorder. I always cancelled at the last minute. I have missed some very important days in many, many lives.

I was also an alcoholic. Being an alcoholic and taking anti-depression meds really don't combo well. I ain't no doctor...just trust me on this. So after years of being a shut in. I am a come on in! :) I really enjoy doing for others. Whether it be a tired Momma with a child or a family of 6. Cora, my daughter, will wake on Saturday Mornings and ask: Who's coming over tonight. She is beginning to enjoy these dinners and will never ever grow up to be like her Momma once was. I may add the the LORD and only the Lord wiped me clean of my alcoholism (3 1/2 years now)  and my anxiety. Praise God!

So...back to this fasting/quitting thingy. I looked at my calendar and boy howdy. we had a spaghetti dinner date. I looked at my husband and said: rule amendment. My friend Gina was coming to eat with her little man. So Saturday dinner went ON! See , we booked her a month ago. Before I jumped in the deep end with this book club/fasting/ 7 by Jen Hatmaker adventure!

Gina is a wonderful mother to a little boy just recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. oops. I got that wrong and was corrected my Gina: it's autism.  And if anyone deserves to be waited on hand and foot...it's this girl. She and I share something great. We both were pregnant with children at the same time and both have older children! so our age spread of 16 years between babies was pretty close! We share the same disappointments and craziness! I hope you have a girlfriend like that. It just makes life easier!

So with that said that is my reasoning. Just as Jen Hatmakers council let her have olive oil and salt and pepper, Bryan and I decided we would have Gina and next week we will have Tanyika and her party of 5! and we will take a moment and sit and rest and reflect on what IS important to the LORD!

Now. let me tell you what we did all day yesterday. we call this a triple decker peach outreach.

My husband and I were called again my the peach orchard angels and given a challenge that only God could truly deliver. Get rid of one 4-runner triple stacked and one Nissan triple stacked full of peaches. YES 2 truckload of peaches in 24 hours. girl...I started calling people at 8:30 on a Saturday morning and did not stop until 7pm at night! All peaches are accounted for and went to people in NEED. did I tell you that I am a food hustler! ? call me I can get your food into hungry peoples mouths in no time!

Here  is where these beautiful peaches went:

• True Bread Ministry Outreach
• Vineyard Food Pantry
• Seton House- a young adult feeding program at the oceanfront
• Potter's house- a feeding program for the homeless could not get there do to scheduling conflicts
• Lighthouse- a homeless day program where they can go shower/do laundry and get phone calls could not get there due to not being open and peaches would perish
• Courthouse- another feeding program located in Va Beach
• Senior Resource Center
• an assisted living facility up the street from my home
• an Alzheimer facility
• a firehouse- these men protect and serve our neighborhood! (this was hubby's idea)
• Hope Haven
• when my contact could not get to Lighthouse and Potter's house she made a brilliant move and got the peaches to 2 contacts that could get them to the homeless who live in Tent City (hidden in the woods at the oceanfront)
• and the HOMELESS VETS who live in the woods as well. are you mad yet? VETS living in the WOODS. people who served our country? seriously.

THEN my contact "Kathy" took the last bags of peaches and placed them on the alter at her church. She had her fellow church members bless them and then she challenged them! she said: " if you know someone who needs these, who could benefit from these peaches, please take them" at the end of service all the peaches were GONE. The challenge was accepted. Single non working moms will get peaches, shut in elderly will get peaches, lonely neighbors will get peaches. The forgotten adult children at the oceanfront will get peaches...you get my drift. so many people need love. and these fuzzy little peaches gave it their all.

I have very few peaches left. But with a toddler and a nap time I was constricted on doing much more. so I ask you...what will you facilitate in the name of the Lord today? Bryan and I pulled off unloading 2 truckloads/triple stacked with peaches in less than 6 hours. seriously folks. I had some very awesome help with half of my truckload from ONE lady. so we had three people on our side. You must step out and be the hands and feet of Christ.

It's not really as simple as sending off a check. Create a revolution. Get the needs of that organization and rally your friends around MEETING all those needs. Many is better than one. Don't be cheatin' your friends out of the blessings of giving!

this quote hit my inbox today in the form of an "Our Daily Bread" email:
I thought of my reluctance to drive across town in the snow to visit a lonely widower; to walk across the street to help a neighbor; to answer a knock on the door from a needy friend when I’m busy; to go any time, any place, any distance for the sake of love. And I thought of our Lord, for whom no distance was too great. —David Roper

God Bless ya'll,
Tracy

ps. if you want that recipe for the Garlic Parmesan Cheese Bread message me!