By Elaine Mcguire
From the first time that I heard and saw stories and pictures of missionaries feeding and caring
for people that lived in constant hunger and poverty, I had a longing to go and feed people.
Feeding people is my hearts desire. I dreamt of it often growing up. But life happened and I
made different choices for my life. For years I struggled to feed my own family and lost sight of
my dreams. As the years passed and money and food became more stable, that desire
surfaced again but in a different way. I began to help people around me that struggled to make
ends meet and worried about feeding their kids. Soon my dream became one of opening a
restaurant where meals were free. I tried to make that happen a few times but could never get
the support financially. To be honest, I would still love to do this. Who knows, maybe I will one
day. But in the meantime I just continued to do what I could. I started cooking Sunday lunches
and inviting any that wanted to come. I bought extra at the grocery store and put it in little
pantry boxes in the city where I worked and helped people financially as God instructed me.
And life went on. Then 2020 came…
I live in a rural community with lots of poverty and one elementary school. When they shut the
schools down due to COVID our school district implemented a plan to provide breakfast and
lunch for students but they had to be picked up and the closest place to get them was 12 miles
from our school. That doesn’t seem like much unless you have no vehicle or no money for gas
or can’t take off work everyday to pick them up. I contacted the district about our community
asking for meals to be given out at our school as well but was turned down. This burden of
feeding children and helping to relieve the burden from parents that were struggling began to
haunt me and I remember saying “I sure wish we had little pantries out here”. But mostly I
remember God saying “You do it”. I immediately said said “I can’t” He said “I can” and He did.
Of course He did! When He gives instructions He provides everything we need to get it done. I
am happy to tell you that there are now 12 community boxes in and around our area and they
provide many meals for those in need. While this wasn’t the way I envisioned my dream it
certainly brings me joy. Then 2021 came…
My husband that I had cared for for some time died in January of 2021. I found myself at a
loss. I had always been responsible for taking care of someone and all of a sudden I was freed
from that. I drifted along in a haze for about a year not really knowing what to do with myself
then in 2022 I was asked a question I never saw coming. “Do you want to go with us?”.
My precious friend Ashley has done mission work for years. In fact, that’s how I met her. She
was hired to do mission work at the church I was attending. She took my oldest granddaughter
on two mission trips to Haiti, Then moved off to Maryland for her husbands job. We remained
in contact and maintained our relationship. She involved me in her life’s work of discipling
others and it has been and still is a huge blessing in my life. She also became involved with a
group called International Womens Ministries and began doing some mission trips through them.
In 2022 she invited my youngest granddaughter to go to Nicaragua and do an internship with
the missionary there and this is when the question came. I didn’t even know how to answer at
first. All I could think was “I’m 60 years old and hard of hearing. How could I possibly be
anything but a hindrance to the mission?”. I told her of my fears and she prayed and told me
she didn’t have any of those fears and God reassured me that once again He would provide.
He quickly provided the money I needed and the peace and courage as well. So I went and my
life was changed. I got to participate in a feeding program that I had read about many years
before and while my joy was overflowing to see a small portion of my childhood dream come
true, I also discovered that my dream of feeding people was so much more. He said to me
“Enjoy the filling of bellies but what they really need is the food that only comes from Me. Give
them the bread of Life”.
