Little rusty red wagon.......

It doesn't seem like much for those who drive by, or park in front of it, but it serves a great purpose every week.......the little rusty red wagon.

When I was a young girl, my brother had a little red wagon. It served many purposes. We pulled each other around in it......we dumped each other out of it..........one would run away with it, while the other would chase behind yelling, "stop!"...........we put puppies in it and pulled them around.......momma used it to pull plant trays around to the flower beds when she was adding new flowers to her gardens.......we used it to carry sticks in that we would pick up out of the yard before the grass was to be mowed........that little red wagon.

Week after week, as our volunteers go out to serve, we meet so many people that are in great need.
Every now and then, we meet some that want to do something to give back. It's always a joy when that happens, because you know you've touched their life in some way.

Tonight, the Lord has brought one particular person to my mind and my heart. She is one that we serve weekly, by taking her a hot meal, and spending quality time with her, chatting about the goodness of the Lord. Our friend is a war veteran. She served our country and is disabled....living in a one room motel room, with everything she owns. She has no family nearby, so she looks forward to our arrival.
Many times, she turns the food away, but always lets us know who is in need of a plate, or if someone new has arrived.

The one thing that has made such an impact on Last Call 4 Grace and our volunteers, is this dear sister to offer up her little rusted red wagon. It is a prize possession to her, and she protects it with lock and key.
She knows what time we come, and she waits outside her door with the handle of that wagon in hand....ready to offer it to us for the Lord's work. That little red wagon serves a mighty purpose.

Night after night of serving, we have loaded that wagon down with plates, as we go room to room delivering them.
The smile on that dear sisters' face is priceless....... especially knowing it gives her the greatest joy to feel she is doing her part in helping us serve.

So, if you're ever over by Motel Murfreesboro, and you see that little rusted red wagon chained to a post.....please take the time to thank God for that little red wagon, and our dear friend, and sister for sharing the best she has to offer up for His Glory!!

"I'll fly away, oh glory, I'll fly away......when I die, hallelujah by and by.....I'll fly away!"



Almost a year later........

Hello friends! Yes, it's been almost a year since my last blog....oops. It has been an incredibly busy year for Last Call 4 Grace, and to be quite honest, blogging hasn't been at the top of my priority list....although, I'm sure it needs to be somewhere close to the top. I know there are some of you who do try to follow my blog, and I didn't realize it. I thought since I'm on facebook daily, that would suffice.
Either way, I am going to try posting regularly.....no promises! :-)
So what's been happening?
We have walked out an amazing journey with the Lord this year! In February, through an anonymous donor, the Lord blessed us with office space! This was huge for us. YAY!! My front porch is no longer a drop off for donated items. My husband is more than thankful for that, although we are still trying to take back our garage! LOL

It took us 3 1/2 weeks to get the office ready. Prior to us moving in, it was an old tatoo parlor....EVERYTHING was black! What wasn't black was deep purple!

 So needless to say, after 3 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint, we ended up with a beautiful shade of serene green, with eggshell trim. In 3 of the rooms, we have beautiful scenery murals. It is so spa-like in our office.......oh, did I mention we were in a basement? We are in a basement, but you really can't tell. I tried very hard to follow all the rules of bringing the outside in, when decorating a basement office, and it paid off! Praise God!

We are now located in the heart of Murfreesboro, on the Public Square. This location offers so much to those we are reaching out to. We have been blessed!

More great news.....

Early this year, Kittie Wesley, R.N., joined our team as our Parish Nurse and she also serves full-time as our Administrator. Thank You, Jesus!!! I didn't realize how much help I needed, until help arrived. Kittie has been such a blessing to me. Not only has she dedicated her service to Last Call 4 Grace, but she and her family have become such a vital part of our family.

We have been so blessed this year with lots of new volunteers. I have been amazed at how many others out there have been looking for a place to serve. The volunteers we have are incredible! They are so dedicated and so patient! We spend long hours while out serving and not one of our volunteers have complained or quit on us....You guys ROCK!!! I have been so moved by the Power of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of these volunteers God has sent to us. I have seen some of them take on the role of leadership as volunteer coordinators, meal prepreperation coordinators, coordinating distribution of donated clothing, and serious prayer warriors!!! I know that even though, I did this for years, alone, I would be at a complete loss if I didn't have volunteers helping us serve. We would never have accomplished so much in one year without you all, and I am so thankful for your servant hearts!

To those of you who do follow our blog, I say, "thank you for patiently waiting for me to write again. I apologize for the long delay".
I am humbled that my words are of any importance, but I give God ALL the praise, honor, and glory, for it is Him Who is at work in me and that would be the ONLY reason my words would be of any value. Praising my Savior.....ALL the day long..........


Many Blessings,

Candy

Reflecting on 2010.......

Reflecting on 2010……..

When a year is coming to a close, I am usually the one who will say, “Whew, glad this one is behind us…….I wonder what next year holds!” Even though this year has been quite challenging, it has been well worth my time to look back, smile, and be so thankful to our Father in Heaven for all the joys, heartaches and sweet partings.  

As my memory takes me back, this is what I remember……

I’ve looked into the eyes of battered women…. abused, hungry, and homeless children, elderly who are alone and have no one to care for them, mentally ill, veterans who put their lives on the line for our freedom and are now homeless, sometimes suffering from P.T.S.D, and are many times suicidal. I’ve looked into the eyes of those who are so lost and hurting, struggling with addictions and self worth, selling their own bodies to get their next fix, or sometimes to just survive. I’ve seen the poor who are working so hard to keep their bills paid and their families fed.....single moms working 2 and 3 jobs, having to miss out on the very best years of their children’s lives to make ends meet.

I’ve stood in roach and mice infested motel rooms, walked into the woods, and crawled under bridges and overpasses to feed and clothe the homeless. I’ve looked into the eyes of those who have been hopeless because their bodies were full of cancer, hepatitis, or HIV. I’ve held the hands of couples whose marriages were falling apart. I’ve cried with parents who lost their child to an untimely death and felt their sorrow deep into my own heart.

By the GRACE of GOD, I still have so much passion to still go out into the streets of Murfreesboro and reach out to the lost, broken, hungry and homeless……passion to continue to answer the call God placed upon my heart. God deserves ALL the glory, honor, and praise for what I am able to do. There is no way I would do what I am able to do if it were not for HIM giving me the strength, endurance and passion.

This has been an incredible year! I have been given the wonderful blessing of holding the hand of a dear loved one, as he passed on from this Earth into the arms of our Heavenly Father.

My family and I have been so privileged and blessed beyond measure to take in a 4 month old baby, who was homeless, to love and raise in our home.

We’ve been blessed with loved ones who have been there for us and prayed for us.

The ministry God has entrusted us with, Last Call 4 Grace, has grown so much, in many ways, and God has blessed us with wonderful volunteers from several churches in this city.

I’ve had the awesome privilege of witnessing many salvations and rededications this year!

God has provided for every single need we’ve had. We’ve gained more friendships and re-kindled old ones this year. We’ve had so, so many opportunities to share the Word and the love of Christ with others. We have witnessed changed lives! Praise be to God!

I know there are so many things I haven’t mentioned and I’m sure if I thought more, they would come to my mind. Either way, I am very thankful for this year and I am looking forward to the New Year coming. I pray abundant blessings for all of you as you part with 2010 and embrace 2011. Let us all put our trust and hope in the Lord, for He IS!

MARANATHA

Grace and Peace,

Candy Carter

Last Call 4 Grace Ministries

Christmas Wish.......

Merry Christmas!

I am using my blog today to share a letter I recieved yesterday.

I pray that your hearts are touched as much as mine was and if there is anyone out there that would like to help this woman, please get in contact with our ministry.

Dear Candy,
                I have a Christmas wish. About ten years ago I became addicted to drugs and went from one to another. The end result was losing my kids and all contact with my family.
For the last three years I have had no contact with them and became homeless living in a motel not having food to eat for days and that is when I gave my life to the Lord, and that’s
When I meet your ministry providing hot meals for us. Many thanks to you and your husband for that. Since all of this I have been clean for three years with only one relapse and that came from
Me trying to deal with a rape that occurred in April of this year instead of going to God I tried to commit suicide and once again you and your husband were my angels that got me to the
Hospital  for mental and spiritual help. Through all of this I’am  doing great. I’am in school for LADAC which is a going to give me a job for drug counseling which will help me and others.
My brother and his wife have been raising my kids and we have now started having some open communication, they have no money for Christmas and my wish is to provide them some
Gifts I’am hoping with some help through my brothers and sisters in Christ this wish can be fulfilled. So any donations that anyone can help me with would make that dream come true.
So if you have any advice on what I should do or try I would greatly appreciate it. There are really no community programs out there for teenagers. Not sure why they believe too.
So please give me a call  when you receive this and lets see where we can go from here.

 If anyone out there is interested in helping, I will get more information on the needs of this family.

May God continue to bless you all!

Set me free.......

Last night was an incredible night, as we went out into the streets to feed the hungry and witness to the lost.
Every Wednesday night, we feed around 80 plus people at the Regal Inn. This includes children, elderly, and disabled. It is always such a blessing to see their faces not only when they receive a hot meal, but also when we tell them that the reason we came was because Jesus loves them and He sent us. We have been so blessed to have an opportunity to build relationships with these folks and many of them have started to allow us to pick them up on Sunday mornings for church.
Last night was a little different from most Wednesdays. We actually had almost 30 plates left over and so we decided to take them to the Murfreesboro Motel. I went to the front office to ask where I may find rooms with children and they were very helpful. When I went to the first door, I nearly cried. The room had several children and you could just see the poverty and oppression all over their faces. I knew then God had specifically drawn us there, right then, and revealed to me that this is where we will start feeding on Friday nights. As we continued going to different doors, the same scene, room after room.........
Kelly and I were led to a particular room down at the opposite end of the building. When we saw how dark it was and obviously dangerous, we asked James to walk with us. We walked with covered plates in our hands and there was the last door, cracked open.....
I knocked on the door and heard a the voice of an elderly man call out. "Come in", he said. So, uncomfortable to walk in, we stood at the door 'til he opened it the rest of the way. There in front of us stood the sweetest elderly man with a huge smile on his face. "Jesus sent us to bring you a plate, sir. Are you hungry?"  He belted out with the cutest laugh and said, "How'd ya'll know it was my birthday?"
We all laughed and asked him how old he was and he said he was 73. So we all wished him a Happy Birthday as he went on and on about how happy he was that we came to see him. We prayed with him, hugged him, and went on our way.
We ran into another man that was coming back to his room from the store, and he asked how much our food boxes were. We told him they were free and offered him one. His response was, "What? Are you serious? I've never heard of this before." We went on to share with him why we do what we do and how the Lord sends us out with food for the hungry. He invited us to come in and pray with him. He also asked if we would pick him up for church.
Going back towards the car, there was another man who stepped outside his room for a smoke. We walked up and offered him a plate of food too. He declined, but really wanted to know why we were doing this. He told us we were the nicest people he had ever met and he just didn't understand why we would come out at night and do this.
We spent nearly an hour with this gentleman. It was a spiritual wrestling match. You could feel the presence of the Lord all around, but in the same time you could feel the ever presence of evil too. The more he opened up and talked with us the more we realized God had sent us to prevent a suicide.
This guy talked in so much confusion that it was hard to follow him, but we kept insisting that God loved him so much and cared for his life. He shared that he was 37 and had lost everything in Florida. He was staying with his parents and they put him out. Now he was here to find work, and cannot. He said he had nothing to live for. He told us that religious people have really hurt him and that he decided he didn't believe in God anymore. He's been in and out of rehab and he was just tired of life.
We began to witness more and more to him and share how God loved him no matter what he had done in his life. He would shake his head no, back and forth, and tell us that we had no idea how much bad stuff he had done. He then said he was so angry with God. He said he would never forgive his parents for putting him out.
As we continued to witness to him, it was so obvious that he was listening to another voice. At one point I told him to stop listening to the lies that the enemy was whispering in his ears. When I said that, he look right at me with a piercing stare. I knew I had touched something. Once I had his attention and his eyes were meeting mine, I knew then it was no longer me speaking to him, but the Lord. I shared the Scripture with him about how even though his mother and father had forsaken him, God would never leave him nor forsake him.
"I just can't", he would say, and I would say, "Yes, you can! All you have to do is choose. Just surrender. Jesus is waiting to take your hand." He would wrestle back and forth on the inside. You could clearly see the spiritual struggle he was in. He would start to almost mock me and say things like, "you don't believe in all that stuff about an anti-christ and the rapture and stuff do you?"
"Oh, yes I do", I said. "That is not what you need to be concerned about right now, though. You are not promised the next breath you will take and you need to know that you are in God's family when you leave".
I then asked him if the room next door to him were to catch fire and he knew there were children in there, would he do everything he could to save them. Immediately his response was, "YES! I love children and animals and I would do anything I could to save them...even if it meant losing my own life.". Then I replied, "Ok, then you can understand why we are standing here pleading with you. You are in danger and the Lord has sent us to pull you out...even if we risk our lives doing it. You know we are not safe out here at this time of night! I have babies at home that are waiting on their mommy and I'm out here. Do you think I'm doing it because I have nothing better to do? No, God sent me because He loves you!"
He broke. He began to cry. "I'm just not sure if I'm ready", he said.

"Ok, I'm not going to push you to choose. That's not why I'm here. God has called me here to just tell you Truth. The first Truth is to let you know that He loves You. He loves you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for my sin and your sin. Jesus went willingly to pay the price with His blood on the cross. He gave up His life in exchange for ours. All God wants you to do is accept the exchange. You don't have to try to make yourself better before you do this.  Just tell Jesus  that you want to give up the life you have right now, for His life in You. When you do this, the Holy Spirit will come inside of you. The circumstances in you life may not change immediately, but I can guarantee that you will have more peace and more understanding of what God has for you. The Holy Spirit gives us comfort when we are in bad situations, and the Holy Spirit gives us clarity when we read God's Word. You don't have to make the choice while I'm standing here. You can do this in your room after I leave, if you want. The only thing I am going to ask permission for right now, is to pray with you. May I do that?"
He said, "Yes", so as we prayed with him, I asked God to push back every deceptive, lying spirit away from this man, so He could only hear the voice of the Lord. I asked God to hold him and give him peace that transcends all understanding. I prayed that this man would be so overwhelmed with the awareness God's Presence that he would be more drawn to Him.
When we finished praying, his countenance was completely different. His eyes were filled with tears and he hugged us and thanked us over and over. WOW!!!!!
We told him that we would be back around on Friday to check on him and if he need prayer or anything, to contact us.
Listen, to all of you reading.....I know this was a long read, and there were so many details I left out, but I hope you could feel the intensity of the struggle going on here.
We need a lot of prayers going up. We are dealing with so many, like this man out there. I want you to know that this ministry and our missionaries are not just handing out food to people who are hungry. God has called us to speak Truth and Love into the lives of lost and broken people. The food is only one of the tools God uses to get us in.
I am attaching a link to a youtube video with you called "Set me Free". This is an awesome dramatization of the struggle a person goes through while deciding to choose Christ.  I pray that it helps someone today. May God bless you all!

We love you,
Candy and Garry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w39vErgIMM  <-----Click here

The needs continue to increase.....

Hello all! I am finally getting a chance to update what's happening out there with LC4G! First I would like to thank you all for the outpouring of prayers and generosity!

As the season continues to get colder, the needs continue to increase.

We are still feeding folks at the Regal...just not on the property. We are now packing approximately 100 plates a night. The number of rooms with children, disabled, and elderly have increased, and they are the ones we are trying to get a hot meal to first.

Now that the temps have dropped, we will be back on the road more, meeting the immediate needs of our local homeless that are sleeping on the ground. We are so thankful for the recent donations of blankets, pillows, coats, and gloves that have come in. They will be much appreciated, I'm sure.

I am going to ask that as "The Church" of Murfreesboro, you will go back to your individual places of fellowship and worship with these prayer requests:

• Pray for our missionaries and their tireless efforts of reaching out
• Pray for an increase of funds/supplies so we may continue to meet needs/shelter

Thank you all for supporting us and loving us through Christ!

Grace and Peace,

Garry and Candy Carter



Welcome blog entry.....

Welcome to my first blog entry! I've been working very hard to make it here and with the help of a dear friend and brother in Christ.....I made it! Since it is very late, or should I say, very early....I will keep this first post short and sweet.

For those of you that are not familiar with Last Call 4 Grace, I would like to share a little about our ministry to you.
Last Call 4 Grace is an outreach ministry. We are predominately what most would call a street ministry, but are not limited to the streets.
We have experienced a lot of tough stuff out there, but absolutely love the way God has chosen for us to serve. We have had some amazing opportunities to see lives changed for Christ, and it just doesn't get any better than that!
I will do my best to stay faithful to all of you by posting regularly with testimonies of how we are witnessing God work personally in our lives, and in the lives of those we are reaching out to.
Please feel free to appropriately comment on these posts. We would love to hear feedback from all of you.

With Christ's love in our hearts toward you,

Candy and Garry

You can check out our website @ http://www.lastcall4grace.com/