Bread for Life: The Move, The Changes and The Prayers!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our prayer meeting last night.

God is good all the time and all the time God is so, so, GOOD.

As many of you may know, Bread For Life Ministries moved with our family in August, from the Sonoma County area, down to our home church, in San Diego, CA.

 In many ways, the ministry is starting over in a new church and new community.

(Thankfully, I still have a wonderful team who is willing to bake and sell bread in Sonoma County! Praise God for the love and excitement this ministry has left with those dear friends.)

With this move, means lots of changes and many unknowns.

One thing I DO know, Bread for Life is now surrounded and supported

by a church with complete and total compassion and love for the orphan.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

My Pastor has a HUGE heart for the 'least of these' and

WANTS to see great things happen.

Through tears, we talked about this. 

I will be given the freedom to walk as the Lord leads with a team of believers

who trust and believe in the mighty Hand of God over this ministry.

My heart is filled with hope and warmed with excitement. 

Although we still don't have all the answer to all the questions

surrounding this sweet little bread-baking-ministry,

we know this is God's ministry and

"He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion

until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1:6) 

Amen?

Please continue to pray as we unfold more details in the days, weeks and months to come.

My heart is ready to get back in the kitchen.

I miss baking. I miss laboring for these children.

The Lord knows this.

He created my heart for this ministry and I trust Him completely to bring this ministry

to full operation under his Sovereign Hand.

So again, THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed.

Right now, your prayers mean the world to me.

It will be through prayer that His beautiful Will for this sweet ministry will be revealed.

So with that, lets pray together and watch the Lord do Great and Mighty

things we could not even imagine, again! ;) 

"Call to me and I will answer you,

and will tell you great and hidden things

that you have not known."

Jeremiah 33:3

A Much Needed Update on 'Bread for Life Ministries'

A much needed update on

Bread for Life Ministries

is in order, wouldn't you say?

I agree.

Here's a snapshot on what's been going on the past 5 months:

After we finished 2012 strong with a running total

of $20,000 raised for the precious little faces of Uganda,

we realized we needed to get some things in order.

The Lord had placed it on our heart to turn this

sweet-little-orphan-loving-ministry into a non-profit.

As you may know, every non-profit needs an active-working 'Board'

in order to be approved by the Government.

Being already surrounded by an amazing group of

orphan-loving friends it become very clear who the Lord

was putting in place for this ministry.

I am so excited to say, Bread for Life Ministries

has established an exceptional 12 member Board

who LOVES-LOVES-LOVES Jesus,

the fatherless and pumpkin bread.

It's a perfect mix! 

So, over the past few months we have been very busy!

We've had many prayer meetings,

Board meetings and worked very hard

to get all our ducks in a row.

We did all the hoop-la of filling out the applications,

Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, Conflict of Interest,

Financial Data, and establishing our EIN.

Does this all sound fun? 

Needless to say, we are now just waiting for final approval

for our 501 (C) (3).

Please join me in prayer that this will come quickly!!!

Another top priority for the ministry is getting

into a commercial kitchen to bake all this yummy bread.

In order to do that, there is another list of hoop-la-hoops

to jump through. 

Certification through the Department of Health,

Food and Handing testing and exams, Insurance,

Approval by the State, Certification through the County...

hoops and obstacle courses all day long. 

After all is said and done...

I take my final exam for the Department of Health:

Food and Handing Safety course on June 5th

After I pass: we will be ready to GO!

BAKE

BAKE

and

MORE BAKING!

It will be so wonderful to be back in a BIG kitchen.

Lot's of flour, eggs and pumpkin....

I can smell the bread now!

Not to mention: setting up accounts with all my vendors,

special ordering for my packing materials,

printed material, labels, stickers, twisty ties...

all the little details that make a delicious loaf of bread

change the lives of many little bodies half way across the world.

It's a BIG DEAL!

All the details I take very serious.

Oh!!!!!!

And not to mention... our new website!!!

Woo-Hoo!

I hope to have it launched by early-mid June!

The address is:

www.bread4lifeministries.org 

Isn't that awesome?

So, In a nutshell, that is where we are.

A little bit of a waiting-game right now but trusting

this will all be completed and official soon

so we can get back to business. We have a job to do!

LOVE.THOSE.CHILDREN.

Im in AWE of the Lord!

His sweetness to bless this ministry with everything

it needs to reach the thousands,

encourage the Body of Christ and spread awareness. 

That's what Bread for Life Ministries is all about.

Helping, Feeding and Loving orphans; one loaf at a time!

"Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,

for he shares his bread with the poor."

Proverbs 22:9

Truth and Lies - Repost

I wrote this over a year ago and feel the need to share it again for someone... maybe YOU!
I know I needed it today! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"I wrote this back on January 11th(2012).
I was not going to post it but somehow the Lord keeps bringing it back around to me.
So here I am, after 3 weeks of fighting the Lord (for whatever reason) I'm posting it.
May it bring encouragement to someones heart! xoxo

~~~~~

I want my blog to be a safe place for me to come and share my thoughts, feelings, struggles, fears, victories, laughter, spiritual warfare, embarrassing stories and emotional breakdowns. As a ‘sensitive’ woman (as my mom always told me I am), I have many of these stories. Probably too many of the latter but regardless, it’s still my life and I guess I feel I’m at a place to be vulnerable and share because, well, I’m human. I make a lot of mistakes and I learn a lot of hard lessons. And I have found that there are many people like that, they just don't talk about it.
So.. I will.

I feel this particular ‘experience’ is unique but yet, all too common and here is why…

Let's face it. There are times when the enemy is going to attack.

As a Christian, it’s completely impossible to escape the traps of the enemy as he craftily tries to destroy your faith, create a state of anxiety and ruin your family.

I call it for what it is.

This is called spiritual warfare!

So instead of not talking about it and keeping it inside, I’m going to share my day. 

Ever have feelings of inadequacy?

Ever feel that you have failed as a mother?

As a wife? As a friend? As a person?

Please tell me you have. I don’t want to be the only one.

(Misery loves company!)  

Today was a weird but yet wonderful day.
As I was driving my daughter to school today I had an overwhelming feeling
of absolute failure come over me.
I KNEW in my heart, somehow; somewhere
that I had completely failed as a parent and it was irreversible.

I don’t believe that any one thing happened this morning beside the normal:
“Hannah eat your breakfast…

Did you brush your teeth?

Hannah get dressed…

Please don’t flight with your brother and get your back pack ready…

Honey WHY are you playing with a balloon and not getting dressed?...

Baby, where are your shoes, they are your responsibility?...

Please stop fighting with your brother…

Hannah did you get your jacket?...

HANNAH, IT’S 27 DEGREES OUTSIDE, YOU NEED YOUR JACKET…

Oh my goodness child, why are you not getting dressed?”

*sign*

My morning was pretty much normal.

However, the damage was done.

I failed.

The pain was real and the spirit was THICK.
It was the type of feeling that you get in your stomach when you know something is awful and it just takes the breath away from you. You almost can do nothing but stare and say nothing.
Well, this was me on the way to school.

Total failure.

It was real and I believed it.

I guess a part of me always has struggled with this because I fall victim to that hideous demonic thought pattern of “everyone does it better and has it together BUT ME!”

Gosh is that ugly!

I sometimes compare myself with the moms that “do everything.”

You know, those moms that in our minds are “so much better than you."

(Whatever that means.)

They home school with complete patience everyday;

cook meals from scratch three times a day;

their hair is always perfect;

husbands clothes are constantly ironed, clean and ready for him;

they don’t have cheerios or old fresh fries under the seats of their car;

their kids can read and write by the age of 2;

their homes are perfect 97.9% of the time;

their kids don’t fight

 they all have sweet soft voices when facing confrontation;

they pose perfect in every family photo;

they don’t yell

and they defiantly don’t fall behind on the laundry!

You know who I’m talking about?

Me neither.

But today, I believed that every mom in the world was THIS mom and that I had failed.

Completely.

One thing I know for sure is, the enemy is hard at work.

This is a thought pattern that he wants every single one of us women (and men) to fall under.

If we are not careful, we start to believe the lies.

So as I drove my sweet ‘Honey Bee’ Hannah (who really is a GEM) to school,
I had this gloomy freaky black thick cloud come over me that rained down big black
F letters for FAILED all over my countenance and spirit. You know, like a profound thick blanket that weighs down your body. The mussels in my face were heavy and I was totally defeated. You know they say it takes more mussels to frown than it does to smile. I believe it. This morning my face HURT.

This is how my day started.

One thing I do know from experience, EVERYTHING must be dealt with through prayer.

I immediately started to pour my heart out to the Lord.

As my morning drifted into the afternoon, my heart was still heavy and I didn’t want to show my face to anyone. ‘Shame’ started to make its home in my mind and all of a sudden, I started to get this pain in my chest. (I call it a freaked-out-stupid-no good-cheap-shot of the enemy)

As I struggled just to keep my head above water, I picked up a book.

I have been reading this book off and on for several months.

Today, the Lord spoke to me through it.

Like a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces.
I randomly opened the book and the words on the first page I read was this:

 “We begin to recognize lies when we know the truth.”

That’s it!

That's it!

All this garbage I had been carrying around with me all morning long were LIE’S.

Big fat ones.

I finally saw it for what it was.

A complete spiritual battle.

All I needed was a small little reminder of who my enemy is to remind me of the battle I’m in.

He is a LIAR.

This was a spiritual attack to knock me off course.

To bring me down. To take my eyes OFF of Jesus and put them on myself.

(It’s called self-pity. A very ugly trap.)

I KNOW there is not a perfect mom, wife or woman out there.

I KNOW this.

Why am I allowing myself to believe and harbor on this thought pattern?

Because our enemy is roaming around like a lion seeing who he can devour!
Seeing who will believe the clever little lies.
The small whispers that you have failed your children.
You have failed your husband and there is no reconciliation.
Your friends think you’re a nut job.
You have no self respect.
Everyone is looking at you.
You don’t belong.
You are a very bad person.
Stop trying to be good. It will never happen.

Get my point? Who has not heard these things?

Claim it for what it is:

Spiritual Warfare at it’s finest.

 “We begin to recognize lies when we know the truth.”

The TRUTH!

Do you know the truth?

My Bible says, “The truth will set you free!”

Not entangle me in bondage where I believe all these lies.

The Bible says:

We are God’s children.

We are bought with a price.

We are treasured.

We are valuable.

We are precious in His eyes.

We are forgiven.

We have been SET FREE!

Praise GOD!

You see, the enemy wants us out of the game.
He wants us defeated, paralyzed and mute; unable to share our struggles and weaknesses.
But you know what?
God is so much greater.
His power is in me and therefore, I can see the truth. I know I’m in a battle.

“We begin to recognize lies when we know the truth.”

So I encourage you, in times like these, claim it for what it is.

Spiritual warfare is a very real thing.

The Bible says, “Be sober, be vigilant.” That means OUR MINDS!

I may not be “one of those moms” and frankly,

I never want to be!

The truth be told:
I’m a mess without my husband;
I yell at my kids and ask for forgiveness;
I fall behind on the laundry daily;
my house is rarely picked up "perfectly";
I raise my voice at my husband when I get frustrated *not a good idea* :-/
he wears wrinkled shirts more times than not under his sweaters (but nobody can tell);
 my car looks like a hurricane most days
and I can only help Hannah with homework for about 6 minutes and then I quit.

You see, my day started with the enemy blanketing me with a spirit of failure.

He whispered so many lies to me.

Lie’s that I KNEW were not true but I started to entertain them.
A very scary place to be.

The point is, Christian, we are in a spiritual battle.
Satan does not want your heart seeking after Jesus.
The second you do, you can be sure he is there to counteract.
To whisper subtle, crafty, self seeking, prideful, thoughts about you,
your family and everyone you’re around.
To make you believe all the lies he has for you.
He is good at what he does.
The ways he sneaks in are incredible.

Do not be fooled.

“We begin to recognize lies when we know the truth.”

Be encouraged today.

We serve an Awesome GOD!

Seek Jesus and find Him.

There you will find rest for your souls and truth for your heart.



Yesterday the Lord gave me this verse!
"I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
   and in his word I put my hope.
I  wait for the Lord
   more than watchmen wait for the morning,
   more than watchmen wait for the morning."
Psalm 130:5-6

I love that!"

Jonah's Well

This is my Memorial Box Monday 
(A Place Called Simplicity)





I have waited a long time to post this update/video. This is truly the work of Almighty God. No man could have planned it this way. No person could have orchestrated the timing so perfectly. No human can write a story like this. Except God.

Today, In Uganda, Praise, her children and the entire village of Matugga-Bubaale will forever have access to safe, clean water. Why? Because a body of believers from Petaluma, CA stepped out in faith, believing that God is so much bigger than our present circumstances. 

And a precious little boy from Santa Rosa CA, born March 2, 2012, already in the hands of Jesus, will forever play a beautiful part in the lives of people half way around the world.

Why? Because it's all part of His grander plan.

Enjoy this video and see how all these pieces of this amazing story came together. After months of planning, preparing, and fundraising.... the well was completed on the 1 year anniversary of baby Jonah entering the arms of Jesus. - I pray we all see how huge this is. At lease I think it's huge! You can not put God in a box. E.V.E.R.

All the money was raised through a family started  (soon-to-be) non-profit that bakes fresh yummy bread and sells the bread. 100% of all the money raised goes to meet the urgent needs of orphans in Uganda. The ministry is called "Bread for Life Ministries".

My blog tells the whole story! 

Early June the website will be launched.

www.bread4lifeministries.org 

God is good all the time and all the time GOD IS GOOD!

Praise HIM! 

We are so thankful for Linny and Dwight!

They have encouraged me to step out in faith in a way I never thought I could. Because of that, together, we are making a difference. It's so awesome.

(And fun. Literally!) 

It's Official! "Bread For Life Ministries"

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, 
     and so all went well. 
     Is that not what it means to know me?' declares the LORD."
Jeremiah 22:16

Friends And Family...
I have some very exciting news!

I am beyond thrilled to announce that,

"Bread For Life" has been approved
through the Secretary of State and Federal Offices
and the name is OURS!!

Woo-Hoo!

Soooo it's official! We are now:

"Bread For Life Ministries"

We are non-profit bound, full speed ahead.

My heart leaps for joy when I say those words.

Who would have ever thought!

It has come to THIS point because of YOU and your continued support of this ministry when in the beginning I really had no clue what I was doing. I had no idea that the very first time I put 22 loaves of bread in the oven, that it would raise $648. Clearly the Lord was moving and demonstrating the simplicity of His work, if we are just faithful to ACT.

"God is calling us... we are supposed to move"

Here we are a year later and we raised roughly $18,000

with BREAD alone! In 12 months!

WOW! 

Glory be to GOD!

Take a step of faith... you'll never know until you do!

I remember when I was praying to the Lord,

"What can I do?"

"How can I make a difference in the lives of the least of these?"

I remember at first thinking I had to do something BIG.

Something.never.ever.thought.of.before.

Something nobody has ever done before, etc…

The foolishness of my heart kept me from seeing that the Lord only wanted me to do what he had already blessed me to do.
I am not a baker but He has blessed my ability to bake yummy bread.
The answer was right in front of my face.

"God does not call the equipped,
He equips the called."

So simple. So easy. So yummy.

I was making it much harder than it needed to be.

I would bake bread. And sell it.

Voila!

The name 'Bread For Life' is so precious to me on so many levels.
I truly know it was a name given to me from God Himself, spoken with authority straight to my heart. I will never forget the day He whispered the name to me back in 2011 as I was walking from my kitchen to my living room. It was so clear. So powerful. So profound.

The Lord's Spirit ministered to my heart and it went something like this:

"Your ministry shall be called, 'Bread For Life.’
You will bake bread, sell it and every penny raised will go to the urgent needs of my children.

Your bread will give life.
The same way that I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.
This bread represents Me and My love for my children."

"Then Jesus declared,

"I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never go hungry..."

John 6:35

I've created a sticker with this scripture written on it.
It is stuck to the bottom of every single loaf of bread we sell. 

"Bread For Life" is more than just baking bread and selling it to raise money for orphans.
It is sharing the Gospel with my community.
Helping to mobilize the church to do what we have been commanded to do.

We all have "callings" in life.
However, caring for the 'least of these' is not a calling,
it is a command.
We are all commanded to care for the orphan, the widow, the naked, the hungry, the lonely
in some degree or another, no matter what.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." 

Matthew 25 31:40

We are commanded to do this,
in addition to the other great things we are 'called' to do. 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
James 1:27

Again, thank you to everyone who has bought a loaf of bread this past year.
Without YOU, Bread For Life couldn't exist. 

Together, we truly ARE helping children, one loaf at a time.



So here’s to our official name:

"Bread For Life Ministries"

"In you the orphan finds mercy." 
Hosea 14:3



On a side note: I have had different individuals and organizations ask if they could use 'Bread For Life' for fundraising opportunities. I am thrilled that B4L could help others in their fundraising efforts, that will go towards helping more orphans. Whether it’s fundraising for an adoption or a missions trip, or to raise money that will go directly to the needs of orphans, I am more than happy to see about selling starter kits, that can use our logo with our name. (If you need a little help getting your feet off the ground.) I have an amazing 12 member board team and we are currently working out all these details. Hopefully information on 'Bread For Life Starter Kits' will be coming soon. Until then, please message me if you are interested. Thanks and God Bless! 

Let's do this friends!
Let's change lives ALL for the Glory of Him
who changed us! 

"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives."
Titus 3:14