Dear Vineyard Church, 

Thank you for supporting my family this past year and a half. Due to my inability to secure sufficient employment while raising my two toddlers, you provided nearly 90% of our household food each week. God used you. 

It has been beautiful to see and experience how easily and quickly you befriend the least, even as our Lord did. I came to you in need of not just food for my household but also for employment. The fact that you did not take offense at my offer to work with you has touched my heart. You did not see a pauper or one trying to take advantage of the system. Nor did you see someone unqualified to work with your children because of my economic circumstances. You saw a friend and a sister, and you invited me in. I am truly grateful. 

I pray for you. That your hearts would not become cold or hardened due to the not- always-easy interactions with those you serve. Or due to the sometimes monotony of ministry. I pray that your service unto the Lord never exceeds your devotion to Him. That you would find in everyone that is a Vineyard member that zeal for the work as a result of your personal and corporate times of intimacy with the Lord. Though people may exhaust you, they will not exhaust Him, and if He has not supplied their needs through you, then they must wait on Him. That you would allow them to push as hard and as long as they want and not feel forced or even moved until He makes it available. May the Lord give you new ways to push people into Him. That they indeed eat out of His hand, not yours. Seeing your service to them as being allowed to pull from His limitless supply, not your individual and collective exhaustible one. As you serve those experiencing more humbling circumstances and don’t appear to be any more grateful for your assistance, may humility and love abound in your hearts.

 As you not only render service to the least of these, but you serve with the least of these and receive them as brethren, whether their time with you is short or sporadic, may God reward you richly in glory. Your care for His people and those who are not yet His is honorable. I noticed your diligence in seeing that the items you give are not spoiled or outdated, that when you were preparing boxes for families, you selected items that would make a meal, and often attempted to be conscious of the gender of single-parent families that required toiletries. May the Lord be as attentive to details with you as you have been toward others. 

Eternally Grateful! 

Torri Christopher