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| East St. Louis Dream Center
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Rachel Buttig
Director
East St. Louis Dream Center | |
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Dear friends, family and partners,
Just wanted to encourage you in how secure the Word of God is. When everything around you feels shaky, find that one promise from God's Word to cling to and get a tight grip on it. Don't let it go. When we do this, it builds stong and stable roots in our hearts. So that we can be "rooted and grounded" in God's LOVE (Ephesians 3:17- KJV) and His entirely faithful Word.
Enjoy the story below and check out more on the web site.
I treasure you, your valuable prayers and precious support. Thank you for being behind me and this ministry.
In His LOVE,
Rachel |
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They Let Their Guards Down
There are days when I have a prompting in my heart to just go stand on my porch. I never know why until I go out there. A few weeks ago, I had that prompting. As I stood on my porch, I looked around and saw that there were about 20 young men standing in a big group. Most of them were the guys we feed lunch to on Wednesdays.
I was standing there reading, and when I looked up, I saw all 20 of them walking towards me. I could definitely tell something wasn't right, so I asked them if everything thing was ok. With all seriousness in his voice, one of them replied , "Quinton just died and we need you to pray for us because we're trippin'." I asked them a few questions and found out that he died that morning in a horrible car crash. Quinton is one of the guys who comes on a regular basis for lunch on Wednesdays.
As I looked at all of them standing on my porch, I was in shock, first of all that Quinton was dead and second of all that they had come to ask for prayer. I asked them if they all wanted to hold hands and pray. The young man who originally asked for prayer directed all of them to hold hands. One of the guys who I have known since he was about 13 years old, wanted to be right next to me for prayer, so he cut in and firmly told the others, "I'm standing right here." Then another guy did the same thing with my other hand. They were vulnerable at this moment and needed prayer and help, something they've never asked me for. All of them were so distraught and hurting. They were letting their guards down.
Many of them were carrying liters of alcohol that they had been drinking since they found out about their dear friend's death. As I began to pray for God's comfort and His LOVE, I heard some of them begin to cry. I have never seen any of these young men cry. I couldn't believe it. Not that I was glad they were crying, but I was honored that they would let their guards down that much to cry in front of me and admit that they were having a hard time.
When we were done praying, half of them walked to another porch, but many of them stayed there with me. It was raining, but we all just continued to stand there. I didn't want to leave them, until they were ready to leave. Some of them were still crying and one was weeping. I walked up to the one who was weeping and just hugged him. He said, "I've got to quit crying. I'm being weak." I put my hand on his shoulder and firmly told him, "No, this is the best thing you can do right now. If you hold those tears in, they will eventually turn to anger later." He said, "Yeah, that's right on, that's right on. Ok." Other guys were crying and I just hugged them or put my hand on their shoulder to comfort them. As I did this I just prayed over them in my heart. I had to convince most of them that it was ok that they were crying.
A week later I went to Quinton's funeral and all of these young men plus about 50 other young men were there as well. The church was packed and these young men lined the walls because their wasn't enough seating. During the funeral, I spent the majority of the time looking around into the faces of each of them. The funeral service was so religious, foreign and unreal to these young men. They stood there with painful faces and blank stares. But, this day was an eye opening day for me. I saw how these young men and the teenagers don't need or even want religion. They need relationship with someone who cares about their life and who will BE to them, "Jesus with skin on." So, I'm asking God to show us more and more ways that we can do this.
These guys are like my little brothers and I'm so thankful that their Father God is slowly opening their hearts to me. And even though they don't know it, He is using that openness to "sneak in" His LOVE, His GOODNESS and His KINDNESS which will lead them to repentance (ROMANS 2:4- NIV). |
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| SOWING SEED
If you would like to give into this ministry know that Your seed is very precious to God. Put faith in that. Anytime you give into God's Kingdom from your heart and because He led you, know that God honors it and holds that seed as precious to His heart (Psalm 126:6- KJV).
God is teaching me so much about His provision, but one thing that stands out and I pray that it encourages you, is this; Not only do we need to use our faith for giving, but also faith for reaping our harvest. Begin to put your faith towards this TRUTH, that you WILL reap what you have sown (2 Corinthains 9:6- Amplified). How EXCITING is that!
If you would like to give, simply click on the Pay Pal "DONATE" button below or write checks to "ESL DC" and mail checks to the address below. For a list of items this ministry needs, feel free to check out the list on the web site.
THANK YOU!
Rachel |
East St. Louis Dream Center
1235 McCasland Ave., Apt. 9B
East St. Louis, IL 62201
618.482.2791
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