My Help Comes from The Lord
121 I look up to the hills,
but where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let you be defeated.
He who guards you never sleeps.
4 He who guards Israel
never rests or sleeps.
5 The Lord guards you.
The Lord is the shade that protects you from the sun.
6 The sun cannot hurt you during the day,
and the moon cannot hurt you at night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all dangers;
he will guard your life.
8 The Lord will guard you as you come and go,
both now and forever.
The sanest part of recovery from addiction is the revelation that The Lord is our only source of real help. He is the only help that doesn't lead us to defeat or let us down when we are in trouble. He is the shade when the heat of the day seems too much for us to handle. Matthew Henry said that some people call Psalm 121, "The Soldier's Psalm". It was believed to be written when King David had a battle that seemed insurmountable.
The men who walk into 180 have been in a battle that seemed insurmountable. They turned to everything and everyone but God to deal with life's battles. They are now learning to trust God as their place of safety and help. It is amazing to see how the process happens. The life of hopelessness turning to hope and hope turning to trust. Trust then begins to peel back the layers of the past and brings healing.
 |
| Bryan sharing hope to the homeless |
 |
| Food donation |
 |
| Bryan shares with people who knew him before he entered 180. They were in tears as they saw that it is possible to find freedom. |
 |
| Passing out goodies to the homeless. |
Agents of reconciliation
"If a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new. All this is God’s doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation. God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to himself—not counting their sins against them—and has commissioned us with the message of reconciliation."
2 Corinthians 5:17,18 Phillips translation
Broken lives become a brook of hope for the broken. That is exactly what happened yesterday. The 180 Center received a donation of food early in the morning, but there were lots of food items that we couldn't eat. Don felt that we should make a quick trip to the overpass to give the food to the homeless living there. We passed out the food and Bibles and prayed for them. Most of the people just looked at Don and me and must of thought, "What do you know about being homeless?", but Bryan started sharing how God has set him free from addiction and how the program helped him get off the streets.
Bryan's testimony helped open the hearts as we saw the miracle of love pouring out of a broken vessel to the broken lives. We were only there for about 10 minutes, but I believe that the seed planted will produce fruit in the Kingdom of God forever!
Thank you for praying for The 180 Center, Restoration Center For Men. Don and I are missionaries under Victory Fellowship and are very grateful for one-time and monthly gifts of any amount to help us with our expenses. Click here for Victory Fellowship's online giving link. Designate the donation for Don and Mary Bryant You can also mail checks to: Victory Fellowship 5708 Airline Dr., Metairie LA. 70003.
An easy and secure way to give!
We are not able to send a tax credit through Paypal gifts, but God will surely reward you
This is the website for The 180 Center, Restoration Center for Men, has all the information and an application for entering The 180 Center on the website:
Please feel free to write us or call us:
The 180 Center: (504) 309-1050
Email: mbryant@victoryfellowship.net or dbryant@victoryfellowship.net
No comments:
Post a Comment