my first thanksgiving and im very thankful

today i witnessed a miracle.

i don't use this word lightly.

i watched it unravel as the day went on in overwhelmed awe and awkward sadness.


today it got cold.

the temperature has dropped suddenly by about 20oC in the last week or so and was at -3oC today. dry and just beginning, it bit as i left the house to go help out at the pantry this morning.

the food pantry is one of my favourite things about the week, it never fails to encourage me in one way or another.

today, however, was an exception. it went above and beyond.

next Thursday is thanksgiving. a holiday that I've had no experience with first hand, but is very important to people here. it's bigger than Christmas in some ways and is a flagged date for families' calendars. as a special recognition of this, some people donated (a lot of) money, or food especially for the purpose of supplying Thanksgiving day supplies to our regular families.

this was no mean feat, so when i arrived to discover that more volunteers had appeared to help than should have i was pretty chuffed. we divided into two buildings; in one we gave out the regular supplies; in the other we gave turkeys, pumpkin pies, and the trimmings as a gift.

the morning was manic. queues were lined up (due to the first come first served nature of the turkeys) a half hour before we even opened.

as i walked in the door to the pantry and saw how much food there was i admit to being worried. the last few weeks we've been staggered with around 60 families in the combined day and from what i could see we were going to be very pushed.
this morning alone we had over 60 families.

granted, we ran out of a few things, but the basics were given. and we'd fed more than usual so i was pretty chuffed. i figured we'd be alright cos there's normally just a few extra come at night, most of whom had already come. we'd be okay.

the turkeys were running low, but it would be okay. (at least that's what i told myself)

so tonight.

we arrive to, again, people waiting, but that was fine we had a guy drop off a donation of more turkeys so had enough for the few extras that would come and then we'd use leftovers for the homeless guys on Saturday.

or so we thought. they came. and came. and came. we ran out of turkeys (which was the bit i helped with in the evening) so headed over to the other building to help there. the place was packed with helpers, all busily putting together bags.

knowing how much food had been left from the morning i figured they must have been quiet and only just gotten busy. how else could we explain the amount of food on the shelves? i chipped in and made up a few too and then i heard it. one of the women's sons shouted in excitement "we reached 100!" surely not. how was that possible? where did the people come from? where did the food come from?! where did the volunteers come from?! it felt great that we had helped that many families (each averaging 4 or 5 people) but i hadn't seen a single person that day who didn't need the food, and that was tragic.

then something else amazing happened. i noticed a women i know carrying in big bags of food. her father had been committed to helping the pantry and homeless from when it began until he died less than a year ago. it had been a massive blow, not only to the family, but to the guys who he helped and truly cared for. she kept taking in more bags so i asked where they'd come from? her boss had heard about the pantry and just committed to giving a large donation every month. then another lady came and offered a stream of bread donations.

then the final numbers were called.

a hundred and nine families.

i've only been doing this for a few months but i know how much food we had at the start of the day and we should have been pushed to feed the morning. there was not enough food to feed that many people, and there was food still left at the end of the day.

i grew up with stories about god providing for people in need, mostly from the bible, occasionally from someone who knew someone that *insert impossible need* and i have to admit that a part of me only believed them in theory. i have faith for big things, but it's one thing to dream something and pray and believe for it, it's another thing altogether to actually see it.

we were so caught up in the chaos that we didn't even stop to think, will this be enough, we just all knew it had to be and pray that somehow it would be. and it was.


there is absolutely no doubt that it was by the grace of God that we had enough food today.

a hundred and nine families. over three hundred and thirty full bags of food from the normal pantry alone.

i don't understand.

i praise God for it.

and he left more.

i'm speechless. really.