If someone were to ask me what would be the most significant, impactful thing that has happened to me since joining Feed the Hungry in 2010, I would say it was making prayer my companion.
Prayer has changed my life and I know is the same for the whole team. Prayer is the cornerstone of our ministry as we continually seek God's plans and purposes in our daily walk with him. Each battle and conquest is so different we need to continually seek his strategy for the day.
It is through prayer that God experiences the cries of those in need and it is through prayer we touch on his will to respond to their cries.We are very honoured to have that Joseph calling, to be custodians of his provision in providing meals to those suffering from famine in some of the remotest areas of the world, and it reminds me continually that God hears the still quiet voice in distant places.
It is my prayer that through reading a few examples of some of my experiences of seeing God's hand at work through prayer at Feed the Hungry will inspire you join us in praying for greater revelation and provision to reach out to the last and the least.
February is our month of prayer. We continue the tradition of Lester Sumrall who also dedicated February to prayer – particularly as his God-inspired vision became a reality when he started Feed the Hungry 30 years ago this year.
On a daily and weekly basis we see the power of prayer making a difference.
Once we received a gift of 180 boxes of high nutrition food that had been packed in unstable boxes and arrived in a terrible state, unsuitable for a long shipping journey.
My heart sank, as the cost of new boxes was out of our reach. I returned to my office, my face sunk into my hands praying in exasperation. Within minutes I received a call from the church next door to come outside. There, right in from of me was a pallet of boxes, not just boxes, but the right size and strength boxes to repack the food in. These boxes had bounced off the back of a lorry literally outside our premises, unmarked and untraceable to the source. With the help of Christian Deaf Society in Leicester the boxes were refilled.
We pray over the containers we send out and on one particular occasion the Lord taught me a new way to pray. For a couple of weeks I had been praying for a half full container to Burkina Faso, which remained stubbornly half full, asking God for blessing and breakthrough, naming those in need and everything else I could imagine. Then it dawned on me that I was asking God to bless my plans and purposes. I immediately changed my prayers to 'Lord what would you like to bless the people of Burkina Faso with?' and within 48 hours the container was full with the most diverse but impactful items, that fitted the needs of the church and schools involved.
Another time while pondering and praying for a container to Liberia, I felt convicted to ask for specific items the ministry needed. I looked at the list thinking, 'Where in the world am I going to get this all from?' and started to pray for guidance and direction. Once again the telephone rang: it was a friend asking what our need was and explaining he had a warehouse of odd items that he no longer needed. I sent the list over to him and he was able to tick off everything on it.
Very recently I felt convicted we needed to send a shipment of food to churches in Athens to help with refugees in the city, and as an office we cried and shouted Amen to the need. Within five minutes we had a telephone call from a donor who had felt prompted to call us at that point to help with the need of the moment.
Sometimes prayer is not answered in the way we would expect. While holding a crusade in Kiryandongo refugee settlement for South Sudanes people, we were praying for God to appear in signs and wonders – our thinking was of healing and restoration – but a whirlwind came and hit the crusade field. Our team hid in the mini bus while the storm passed, but the South Sudanese outside collapsed in awe of the power of God among them. Never before had such wind or storm been seen. Hundreds of people came to know Jesus that week, for them they understood God's sign in a way relevant to their culture.
We receive letters nearly every day. We pray over these at our staff meeting each week, as we are convinced by the evidence of what God has done for us, that he is generous to those who call on his name.
Gwyn Williams is operations director for Feed the Hungry.
