Fix It Forward Ministry

We received a couple more wonderful Christmas blessings regarding our crosses in the Operation Christmas Child project that I wanted to share:

“Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas. A special thanks for the 600 crosses we obtained for our Operation Christmas Child shoe box packing party. We were able to pack 843 at our event. God provided crosses for each box as one of my friends worked with ladies at a Care Center to make crosses so we were so happy to have all the crosses to fill each box. May God continue to bless you as you share His love thru your crosses. We have heard a lot of our shoe boxes went to the Philippines carrying your crosses. We are keeping you and your wonderful ministry in our prayers. Merry Christmas!”

Edna – AZ

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

“I can’t tell you how much your crosses will help spread the Word! I sent them to Operation Christmas Child!” Candice – CA

(I posted Candy’s comments last month but forgot the GREAT photo she sent! Thanks, Candy for sharing! Your boxes look terrific!!)

The other night, I dreamt I went to Heaven. It was breathtaking there … more magnificent than anything we can visualize here on earth. Plush gardens were everywhere, with cool waters gracefully and lazily flowing through them; fragrances from the vibrant plants caressed my face as they floated by. Children and their pets played gleefully along the pebbled pathways; big belly laughs could be heard as they romped in the thick, soft grass. And, the music … it was sooo beautiful … and it surrounded me. I could almost see it rising as dainty, spent dandelion flowers in the wind above the heads of every single smiling, peaceful, loving face I saw. It was wonderful … everyone was healthy; everyone was whole. Everything I had heard about it, everything I had read about it … SERIOUSLY downplayed. I could hardly take the majesty, the opulence, in … this was Heaven. I was in Heaven!!!

An angel guide appeared and suggested we go for a walk. As we walked and talked, it was hard for me to keep my mind in tune to what she was saying … there was so much serenity, so much beauty, so much obvious love. I was giddy; I was in Heaven!!! Pinch me!!!

Eventually, we came to a massive warehouse. Stopping, my guide said she wanted me to see something. When we entered the warehouse, I could see a narrow hallway stretching down the entire length of it on the right, with doorways to rooms on the left side. We started down the hallway and stopped at the first doorway. This first room was huge and bustling with more angels than I could count, every one of them working feverishly.

Where were we, I wondered? As if reading my mind, my guide said, ‘This warehouse is our Prayer Processing Center and the room we’re looking in is the Receiving Department. Here, all prayers are received.’ As I looked around, I realized the angels were sorting out voluminous petitions written on paper sheets and scraps of all sizes and colors … petitions from, obviously, people all over the world!

After watching them for a while, we moved on down to the second doorway, another room of matching size. My guide announced that this was the Packaging and Delivery Department. She further added, ‘Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.’ I noticed how busy all the angels were here too. It was evident that the volumes of requested blessings were being packaged for delivery.

As we continued on our tour, we stopped at the last door at the farthest end of the long hallway. It opened into a very small room where one angel was seated at a tiny desk, idly doing nothing. ‘This is the Acknowledgment Department’, my angel friend quietly, almost embarrassed, admitted to me. I stood silent, trying to come to terms with the glaring difference between this department and the previous two. How is it that there isn’t anything going on here, I thought? As if reading my mind, my guide sighed and said, ‘It’s so sad. After people receive the blessings they’ve asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.’ ‘How does one acknowledge God’s blessings? ‘ I asked. ‘Simple’, she answered, ’Just say, “Thank you, Lord.”’

Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings you give to me, my family & friends, my church and thank you, too, for blessing all the good folks in our Cross The World family. Thank you for blessing me with the strength I need to make it through each day and for surrounding me with people who make my life more meaningful.

Amen.

I received this great testimonial from our Sister in Christ, Carla, from Moorhead, MN and I couldn’t wait to pass it on to you. Thank you so much, Carla, for letting us know about this great Christian service in your area and THANK YOU for introducing Cross The World to them!

‘Greetings from the Fargo/Moorhead area. There is a very unique ministry thriving in my community and I wanted to share its info with you. It is called Fix It Forward Ministry.

Fix It Forward Ministry is a not-for-profit charity located at Fix It Forward Auto Care (a full-service auto repair facility) in Moorhead. The ministry’s goal is to remove the transportation barrier for needy members of the community and help enable them to be independent and self-sufficient. This goal is accomplished one of two ways: 1) by providing free car repairs to needy individuals, to help keep their vehicles on the road and safe, or 2) by repairing donated vehicles and giving them to needy members in the community who do not have a vehicle or whose vehicle is beyond repair. After-hour volunteer labor, discounted parts, and charitable donations cover the costs of repairs.

Anyone in need who receives a car, or repairs to a car, from Fix It Forward Ministry must be referred to them by one of the 30 participating assistance organizations in the Fargo/Moorhead area such as the YWCA, Salvation Army, or Jail Chaplains. In 2018, there were more than 120 cars fixed and 81 placed.

A volunteer from my church, Messiah Lutheran Church in Fargo, details the car before it is sent on its way so it is as clean and fresh as possible. And, this is the exciting part for me … the part where Cross The World gets involved. One of your crosses accompanies a Bible that is placed in each car; together, these give people HOPE. So, thank you, for making it possible to think outside the box to yet another road for the crosses to go to those who need encouragement. I am blessed to play a part in this program; may God bless you as you continue to bless others through your ministries.’

Carla

For more information about this awesome ministry, click HERE.

“The more kindly we treat people – the more we let God love others through us –
the more real His Presence becomes to us.”

Dave Roberson, The Walk of the Spirit

The love of God was shared with these folks last month through the cross:

Messiah Lutheran Church – Lakeville, MN for Project Video trip to Thailand and Burma

Mary – MN for Jamaica mission trip

Diane – AZ

Georgia – AZ

St. Francis Hospital Pastoral Care – Tulsa, OK

Paul – PA

Canfield Presbyterian Church – Canfield, OH