Episode 23: From Pain to Praise with Jeni Bolton

In this episode of the ‘only God’ Podcast, Jeni Bolton shares her inspiring journey of giving and service. She and Stephanie L. Jones discuss how they met through community service ministries, the challenges and abuse Jeni faced growing up, and how she transformed her pain into praise by leading several ministries, including 500 Turkeys. Instead of allowing the difficulties to become excuses that keep her from serving, Jeni has learned how saying “yes” to God can lead to amazing miracles no matter who you are. She truly lives out the message Jesus gives in Matthew 25:35-40 about feeding the hungry and clothing those who need clothes. This episode is full of powerful stories of transformation and the impact of service on families in need, emphasizing that all of this is only God.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Hey friends, welcome to the Only God Podcast, where we share stories only God can write. I'm your host, Stephanie L. Jones, and each episode we'll dive into powerful testimonies, have great conversations, and encouragement that remind us when the impossible happens, it's only God. Let's get started. Hey friends, it's Stephanie here again with the Only God podcast, sharing stories only God could write. And today I have my dear friend Jenny Bolton on. Hey Jenny. Hey. How is it?

SPEAKER_00 0:50

I'm good. I just got off work. I'm here in my office. You might see me yawn, but it has been a long day. But this is the perfect cap to my day.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I love it. So thank you for doing this. I know you're a busy gal. Um so I always love to start with our guest is to share, have you share our only god connection? How did we meet?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Okay, so it was a while ago, and I can't figure out the time frame, but I'm gonna guess 15 years ago. 2011, you're right. Oh, good. And um, you were on a journey, a giving journey, and I think the first time we met was Pamper Night. It was uh I was the coordinator of an event called Pamper Night where we gather a bunch of volunteers and some beauty professionals and just have one night of an amazing time for the women that were currently in the battered women's shelter, giving them makeovers and loving on them. Um and you came to volunteer, I think, or you donated goodies. I don't remember which maybe both, I think. Yeah, and so um you're just like, hey, I heard about this thing, I wanted to get involved somehow. And um, I remember you have donated goodies in the past, but and then um we became friends, I think almost instantly, and you started serving it other things that I coordinated, like Feed the Need, where we did a big uh food drive at the grocery store, and then 500 Turkeys, which is the ministry I was coordinating at well, I still coordinate it. Um, and then next thing you know, Stephanie's writing a book, and she's like, Hey, I want to talk to you. I this was part of my journey, and you put those two of those instances in the book, and it was just so special. I was telling uh someone yesterday, hey, I'm on this podcast tomorrow. Really? That's awesome. Who is it with? I'm like, Oh my gosh, it's my friend Stephanie, and I'm talking about Stephanie, like she's this world famous, which you are. And he goes, You were in a book, you're famous. I'm like, maybe in God's book.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

I love it. Well, I wanted to feature your stories, and you were part of my giving journey. And I said, That's how, you know, I feel like the Lord moved me to new northwest Indiana. I hardly knew anybody, but on my giving journey, you know, you give, you expect nothing in return, and God gave me a bunch of friends. And I that's what I love about serving, is you do get to meet people, like-minded people. Uh, you have such a heart for Christ and just our for our community. And I remember about that um event where you know, you just showed up and it was the women at the caring place. And I can still, I mean, that was, yeah, 2011. And I remember the date because that's when I started my giving journey. So I was always looking for something to do every day. Like, how what's my gift gonna be? And if there was a thing to volunteer. But what I loved about that was you could see when the woman walked in, you know, heads down, kind of shoulders slumped, and yes, like not making eye contact, didn't want to talk. And you and your team had just coordinated this most beautiful evening to just love on these. I mean, from the time they entered the door to look at the.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

From the time they left the shelter, we picked them up in limousines, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yes, yes. And then to see them when they walked out, it was loud. I mean, you know, from when they come in, it's very quiet. And even as volunteers, you're it's a little awkward. You're like, what do we say? What do we don't say? And you had prayed for us, we had gotten instructions, but it was just this beautiful moment to go, okay, the Lord has brought us all here. Just love on these women. Um, and by the time they left, the church is loud and they're smiling, and that you can see this confident. I mean, it just, and they're leaving, you know, all dulled up and beautiful. And so it's just like, oh my gosh, it's one of the coolest things I've ever been involved in. And uh, that was a ministry you had. I was just like, that in itself is only God.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yeah, it was, you know, someone mentioned it to me recently. They're like, Are you gonna do that again? I said, Oh, you know, I wasn't coordinating 500 turkeys really um on a large scale back then. And I could do three ministries a year. Uh, I just can't do that now. But there are people that I that still come to me saying, as a volunteer, I was blessed, and people that I meet that say, I was a guest. Wow. And or I was a kid and you loved on me. You know, there was an instance where um we just wanted to make the women feel safe and loved, right? And I grew up in an abusive home and with with alcohol addiction, and I knew what it was like to be uh treated that way, and or to be afraid. So there was an instance where um we would coordinate security, and so uniformed officers would come in and the kids would play downstairs, and we wanted the women to know that nobody's going to hurt you here, you are safe. And a police officer friend of mine went downstairs and the kids were looking at them because normally they're ripped out of the home. Right. And it's not a good situation when they're fleeing, right? And that police officer isn't somebody that cares about them to that child at the moment, it's you're taking me away from my parents. Right. And um this this guy, his name's Keith, he just got down and he talked to the kid, and the the child warmed up to him enough that he would sit on his lap, and it was just a beautiful thing from start to end. And I miss doing it, but I know that in God's timing, those 10 years that we did that was was meant to be.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah, and it is amazing that that event went on for 10 years, and um and it, yeah, it's it was a lot for you and your team, a lot of volunteers coordinating, getting everybody to show up, and um yeah, and so it's it's beautiful that you were able to give and serve that way for that 10 years. Um, I want to, you've mentioned a couple of times 500 turkeys, and so I would, I, I, I think that is well, there's a reason why I put it in my book because and I've spoken about this. I mean, I've asked Jenny, I mean, I took this to Alaska. I have used this in keynote speeches because it is such a beautiful example. And and you shared, Jenny, of you were raised in a home um, you know, with a lot of challenges. Um, do you want to share, like, you know, not getting a high school degree, that sort of thing? Um, I'd like you to give a little bit of that before we go into what like your big only god story, because I think it's important.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, so um I am one of, I I think, and it's funny, how do I think that I have 13 siblings? Um, I have some step siblings, found siblings through DNA matches from uh the paternal side. But my mom had several kids, and um, but I only grew up with the one after me and the one right before me. So the three of us grew up in a home, again, that was abusive. Um, but my I found out later my mom was always abused by these men. And so that's how she learned to deal with things, I guess. Um, as the middle child, I was definitely that typical middle child where I was always in trouble and always abused, but the other two acted out. At least that's the way I saw it. Um, so we had to fight for um how we were gonna get fed. My mom worked really, really hard to keep these last three kids. And I remember open up the pantry, and everything was in back then was black and white or black and yellow boxes, which meant generic. And um, we weren't allowed to drink milk because it was too expensive. We'd have to drink powdered milk if we got milk. Um, we didn't eat much. Gifts came from the Salvation Army. I remember going to the Salvation Army, a truck would come in and they'd just dump all this stuff into a big warehouse. And we would just, you know, go through and pick out, I want this doll or I want this toy, and that was our Christmas. And they were used toys, right? Um, I remember welfare coming to the house and checking on us kids. Um, they never noticed any of the bruising and the scratching and all that from the abuse. Um clothing, we didn't have a lot of clothing. Like there's it's a sad situation, but there is good that came out of it. Um you know, as I got older, um, I didn't fight back because I wasn't allowed to fight back. I grew up being told that I was fat and ugly and stupid and I wouldn't amount to anything. And um, I was able to finally break free five days after my 18th birthday. I had a place that I could go, a safe place with these Christian people. I didn't know what Christians were at the time. Um back then I thought Christians were people that ate dinner together and talked about their day. Um but they were lovely, lovely people. And it was a um a high school friend of mine and her family. And then I moved to Indiana because we were out in Pittsburgh at the time. Um, I think God just took that pain that I went through. I didn't want to be a statistic. My sister and I were bound and determined not to um be dependent on substances or abuse kids or she never wanted her kids to be in want. So we supported each other, and um he turned that pain into praise because I know what it's like to be hurt, so pampernite happened. I know what it's like to be hungry, so 500 turkeys happened. I know what it's like to not have clothing or clothing that fits you, and you're not in the style, therefore, clothes and prayers came to be, you know, all these different things. It's like, how do we use our pain for good? How do we make our pain turn into praise? And so, um and obviously God did not make that clear right away.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

I think he ever does, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:44

No, no, I think in my growth I was baptized at 30. Um, I'm not married, I don't have any children. Uh I didn't graduate high school because I went to school to get away from the abuse. And um and I I was just really behind. And so I tried, tried, tried for a long time to graduate, and I finally went to high school in 2022, uh, adult ed neo school in Portage, and I got my high school equivalency at like 52 years old. Yay!

SPEAKER_01 12:21

I love it. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

I know, right? And I am so proud of that. I'm not embarrassed at all. I mean, that's an accomplishment, right? With a full-time job and ministries, and um, so I'm really happy about that. And I've learned that God wants more for me. And I'm he's he's not asking me to just serve other people. He's asking me, Jenny, I've got good things for you. Receive what I have for you. And so I started believing in myself more and in realizing I am perfectly, wonderfully made in his image, and he protected me through all the pain and the things that I went through so I could glorify him later.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Thank you for sharing that. And I wanted you to share that because I think so many times, and you can agree or disagree, or we could talk about that, is you know, people use their past as an excuse of reasons why they can't do something. I don't have this education, I don't have, you know, I grew up in an abusive home or not without a file, whatever, fill in the blank. And then it's like this excuse not to do XYZ. In our case, like I always say it's the excuse to not do what God's calling you to do. God will equip you. Um, it is in his weakness that we are, it is in our weakness that we are strong. We have to depend on him. And so I wanted you to share that because I would like for you now to share like your uh only God 500 turkeys, because it really is one of those stories is you could have used all those things that you just mentioned as an excuse and went on your way, but you did not. So, do you want to share your story?

SPEAKER_00 14:02

I love it. It's one of my favorite stories.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

I know it's one of mine too.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

So I was helping with the youth group at the church that I was at, Life Bridge Church. That was just where we did Pamper Night, which is where we did Feed the Need. They were very empowering church to say, if God put this on your heart, we want to support you. And I was helping lead the youth group. We went to a conference called Christ in Youth. And so we only had a few teenagers that year, and we walked into the last day of our seven-day journey, and it's like a big concert show in this arena. And I'm guessing there was about 900 leaders and students. We walked in and they had volunteers all over the place with baskets, and they had these little uh envelopes. And they said, Everybody takes one. I said, Well, is it just for the kids or do the adults take one? He said, Yeah, you can take one. I thought, well, I want to participate with the kids with whatever they're doing. And they said, But don't open it. They're gonna give instructions later. Just put it in your pocket. So, what the um the leader, his name is Jason French, and and I mention it because he coordinated this Christ in youth movement, and he still coordinates it to this day. Um, and I give him updates um throughout the years, and he's shared it with his staff and done articles, and it's it's been a journey because normally kids run with it, but they've had an adult now run with it. But um, they were called Kingdom Worker cards, and so they said this card that we gave you, do not open it until you've prayed about it, you've talked to your youth pastor, your parents, because there is a mission from God on this card. And if you open it, you're saying yes to whatever that mission is that God gave you. And if you do not think that you're ready to do something, whatever it is on this card, then do not open it. Wait until you're ready. I opened it. And um, you know, um my some of the kids I was with were with me, and it read 500 turkeys. Raise enough food and funds to feed 500 families for Thanksgiving. I was like, what?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Did you want to snap it back in? Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

And all I kept thinking was the kids saw me open it. Now it would be wrong if I ignored it because I would be lying to God. But I knew that the kids needed to see me as a as an example, and because they're gonna be opening theirs. What I don't tell many people was ten minutes before I opened it, another girl from another youth group was sitting in front of me and she opened her card, and I'm looking over at her, and I go, What's the matter? What'd you get? And she goes, It says something about 500 turkeys. And I go, Oh girl, that's easy, you can do that. And I think God was up there, like, uh oh, okay, okay, hold on. Okay, and I think he just kind of switched that card. That's the way I like to think of it. So I didn't do anything about it. I I the kids saw me, I didn't talk about it, I didn't really tell anybody. But about two weeks later, I was at Bible study with five friends. And um, I said, guys, I gotta tell you, I got this card at CIY, and this is what it says. And we they start brainstorming. They're like, Okay, we're gonna call Idaho Potato, we're gonna call rosebud, we're gonna call butterball, we're gonna get all these different things. And we wrote them down, and none of those things worked. But before we tried them, let me backtrack and say I told five friends. Two days later, on Sunday, I couldn't get out of bed, my back was frozen, I was in a lot of pain. And one of my friends was at church sorting offering after service with two other ladies, and she goes, and my phone rings, she goes, I had to call you, Jenny. I was telling the girls about this turkey card you got, and she we're opening envelopes, and one lady screams, Oh my gosh. She opened a white envelope, it had no writing on it, and on the inside was a$20 bill in red with the word turkeys written across it. And they instantly stopped and prayed. And when she told me about it, that was my sign from God that said, Listen, Jenny, you don't have to supply everything. You don't have to bring the people, you don't have to know what to do. I'm gonna provide what you need. And so, because my thought was, I'm uneducated, I don't have a high school diploma, I work in McDonald's, um, I work full-time, I don't have enough money to feed 500 families, and Thanksgiving is only a few months away. But he said, I'm gonna help you. And you just have to say yes. So at that moment I said yes. A few groups got together, we met a couple times and we fed 500 families that year. I think it was nine items, and we packed the boxes as they came down the stairs. Yes, I remember that. And there was there's so many god winks, and and you told me once you should write a book. Like one god wink was we had to raise like$40,$4,200 for the turkeys that we were getting through the food bank of Northwest Indiana. And I got a c and we raised some money, and the treasurer of the church took care of it, and I got a call from the food bank saying, Hey Jenny, I want you to know the turkeys are larger than expected. I'm like, Great, they get more food. He goes, and you should understand per pound that's gonna cost more money. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, we can't do this. Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? I got 500 families coming in. And I said, How much is it? And he goes, uh, I think it was like 4,800. I don't know what to do. Okay, hold on. Treasure, how much money have we raised so far? She said$4,800. Okay, thanks. By the time it was all said and done, we had enough money to buy a roasting pan for every family member or every family as well. And and that year was great, and it was an adventure, and it was supposed to happen once. And Stephanie, we just did year 17 because that was in 2009. Crazy. It was supposed to be done once.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Well, that was your plan, and I think that's one thing that it I love about the story is because this is a perfect example of one, God calling you to do something that is way bigger than you. You know, immediately you can tell yourself, okay, I've never run a ministry, a nonprofit, the financial piece, like you you could make all the excuses, and God said, nope. It was very clear to you what God was calling you to do. And it was like, just take the next step. And it was like, you took the next step, and he's like, I am your provider in this. You just have to trust me. You have to keep showing up, you have to do the work. Um, but I just love that because you did that. You were faithful in just taking the next step and but then telling people and not just trying, I think so many times is we try to do things on our own, and that never works out.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Or it doesn't work out very well. So, do you want to talk a little bit about like where it's at now and what it looks like? Like your faithfulness 17 years ago. Um, like what does 500 turkeys look like now?

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Wow, it's been a journey. Um, because as we did the second year, we changed to make it easier, make it better. How do we reach out? We fed 500 the second year. Um, then we fed 505, and we were able to give a$5 bill to every family, and it increased, and we increased the items in the box, and the next year we would increase um how many families? The year we increased to 600. Um, we didn't know we were going to increase to 600, and we had a small team at that point, regular team members. We call them the turkey team. And someone's like, Well, why don't we feed 600 fam? Or no, it was how many boxes are we getting from the donor? We only need 500. Well, they're sending us 600. I said, but we only need 500. Well, they're sending us 600. Okay, I don't know what we're gonna do with 100 boxes and the paper tickets we would hand out. We were short too, so I called the company that printed them. Well, we'll send you another hundred. I said, I don't need another hundred. I need two. They said, Well we don't do them in twos, we're sending another hundred. Team member says, Well, how much would another hundred turkeys cost? How much do we have? We had just enough. So that year, God's like, I'm gonna provide what you need. Obviously, I need to tell you in a different way, but we fed 600 that year. So in 2017, um, well, a few years later, we started the clothing. Now, my sister has been the coordinator of the clothing. That was a very difficult task of collecting, sorting, delivering, coordinating during distribution, and then packing up and putting it somewhere else for five years, I think, at Life Bridge and at Valpo Nazarene. Um, and so we collect donated clothing and then give the donated clothing for free, no questions asked to anybody in need. So that's been happening since I don't know, it's been happening a long time.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

It's been a while.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

It's been a while. Now we have a clothing center that started in 2020 on the property of South Haven Christian Church, and we have somebody that rents it for us, and so that's all paid for. It's open one day a week. We get volunteers, we get donors, we get support. Um, we need more volunteers, by the way. Not many people like to do laundry for other people. Um, but um that has been a huge blessing. So we don't just feed food, we clothe, which is scriptural, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:46

I was gonna say, I mean, yeah, it's the verse in scripture, I believe Matthew, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Um so in 2017, we um got to 1,700 families. And so we had enough donations, enough support from grocery stores and other things that 1,700 families were fed a full box of food, which is about 25 items in the box at the time. And I think we gave a Bible per box. We had seasonings, we had all these other things, and and that was kind of our max. So that was 20, I think I said 17, but that was 2019, and then COVID hit. How are we gonna do this? Grocery prices are high, people aren't working, which makes the need bigger, right? But will the money still be provided? Because the only way 500 turkeys is funded is through a community of believers, meaning they don't all believe in Jesus, but they believe in the mission of feeding families food and faith. We get to bring them Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

So we still fed four 1,400 families in 2020, and we revamped the entire distribution according to health department standards and everything else to do a drive-thru. And we did uh, I think for two, three years. Yeah, and then took it back to inside so we could have more face-to-face. So this past year it was 1,600, and it's been amazing. The team is at about last year, we ended with about 23 people on the team, and those are dedicated people that meet every single month at the nest. That's our our meeting place. Um love it. And 23 people, we had probably five or eight that first year, and they're only one of them is still around. We just got 10 people that said, I want to be on the turkey team. So starting this month, they're coming to their first meeting, and we have, I think, nine people are joining the turkey team this month, brand new people, because they have saw, have seen what what is happening with how we treat volunteers, how we treat guests, the love that people feel in every point of that thing. And and something we say at distribution because we can't assume that all the volunteers know Jesus, right? Right, is um everybody that walks in that door should be treated like kings and queens. As if they were Jesus Himself. You don't know their situation. If they have a nice phone, it doesn't mean that they can buy food. If they have a nice car, it doesn't mean it's their car. If they already have food in the car from another food giveaway, it must mean that they need it. Maybe there's someone picking up for someone else. I want you to not judge and open your hearts to just serving the people that God brings to us. And if you don't know Jesus, you will see him today, is what I tell them.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

It is so I always love to, when I volunteered, I think I always did the check-in because I was like, I got to touch and meet everybody and just like I don't know. I loved being there because it's like I want to see everybody and you hear stories and you get hugs, and it is it is it is an amazing day. And what I love about it is, you know, like you said, it's pampered night. You did 10 years, and it was like, but the Lord is still moving in this ministry and still bringing people, and you're still showing up. And I think that's important for people because I do think God calls us out of ministry sometimes, and other times it's like, hey, keep showing up, and I'm gonna keep keep providing. Um, did you did you ever think that it would be what it is today?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

No, because for so many years I kept telling myself, you're an uneducated, unimportant, blah, blah, blah human being. And someone had to remind me, who did Jesus call to walk with him? They didn't have master's degrees, they didn't own million-dollar businesses, they didn't, they weren't influencers, right? They were regular everyday people. And he brought them along and taught them and they grew. And you know, the scripture, and I can't remember the reference, but um, if you are faithful with little, he will give you much, right? So someone asked me the last year that we could fit inside Life Bridge, we did 912. And um Matt Palm said, Did you ever think it would get this big? And I said, I didn't. He said, If your card would have said 900 and something on it, would you have said yes that first year? And I'm like, I don't know that I would have. So I had to be faithful with little, and God'll build on it, right? And I said to Matt, who has 11 children, would you have married your wife if you knew you're gonna have 11 children? And they adopt and they have their own, and it's an amazing family. But uh, he laughed, he goes, touche, right? So I think when the community sees that this ministry really does what they promise, they're faithful with the money that we give. They treat the volunteers with kindness and love because they are a part of the feeding families, food and faith, like it grew. And people keep coming back and they keep wanting to serve. Packing night, literally, the volunteer signup for 300 people fills up in less than 24 hours. People fight for a spot to volunteer. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

I'm glad you mentioned that because I haven't volunteered in a while. And the reason why, though, is you know, I am very prayerful of how I spend my time and where I spend my time. And I do think, and I I don't, I can't speak for men because I'm not a man, but I think as a woman, we can be like, I'm gonna show up for everything. I love this, I'm gonna show up. And then that's how we end up burned out, but it's also how we take away from what God is calling us to do. And so it's like I have learned, and it's like, okay, I have served, I have done what God's calling me to do. I'm gonna serve over here. Doesn't mean I can't donate money, I can't donate food or those sorts of things. But I want to tell say that to women is you know, just because you've served in the past, be very prayerful because then too, it takes away opportunities from other people. I mean, you constantly have new people coming in, getting involved. And that's how you breathe life into an organization so it can keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

Yeah. Yeah. And if you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to something else. There's only so many hours in the day. God doesn't call us to serve everywhere. And you mentioned that how it's grown and our ministries change. And even in the 17 years, my role in the ministry has changed. And Pastor Pete from Life Ridge used to remind me, Jenny, you went from being the coordinator of a food drive to a coordinator of people, and you are now responsible or partly responsible for the salvation of the people that you lead. And I was like, I did not sign up for that. I'm not qualified for that. But what I've realized in this past several years is I need guidance, I need people to fill me because I get worn out, and there are many years that I say, I'm done. I'm done. And God reminds me that by bringing me somebody that says, you know, I got a meal from you once, and this saved our lives. Three times I've heard stories of how food from 500 turkeys prevented somebody from killing themselves. Gosh. And people have been baptized. Um, there's so many stories. It is it is crazy how many stories.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Well, I want you to write a book because there's so many stories.

SPEAKER_00 33:16

But and I cannot take credit. I will not take credit. My message many times is just say yes when he calls you.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

If he's calling you and you truly can hear from him in whatever way that is, if he says do it, do it. And it's not about, it's it should never be about your pride. It should never be about the spotlight. I never call it my ministry. He gave me an opportunity. I said yes, and I am a coordinator of that ministry because he really runs it and it is fully his, right? So I don't say my team, I don't say I did all this. Now I have work to do, like you said. Yeah, and it's a lot of work. But um, if I put it in his hands, it it really runs itself.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah. You know, well, that's why I call this the Only God podcast, because I just want to share stories where, you know, you say, because of God, only God is why this ministry exists. We're able to do it. There's food provided. There, I have the energy to do it. There's the volunteers that show up. Um, it's only God. What you you alluded to this earlier when you were talking about, you know, three people that you know didn't commit suicide, people that, I mean, thousands now that have been fed um both, you know, physical food, but spiritually and and volunteers. I mean, I know as a volunteer is you you get fed, even though you're not taking home a box, or or for me, I wasn't taking home a box, is it's amazing to think about what if you would have said no?

SPEAKER_00 35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Do you ever think about because I ah man, it just really, I'm like, I feel like God is calling, again, I'm just gonna speak to women. Women, God is calling women to do something, whatever it is. And a lot of them know what it is, but they're not willing to take that first step. And so, do you ever think about like, what if I would have just tucked that back into the, you know, that that card back into the envelope of all these people that wouldn't have been fed and served and how God would have been able to move?

SPEAKER_00 35:39

I don't think that I think about it like that because there's no way I would have known, I could imagine. But I know from my life, I wouldn't have met certain special people. I wouldn't have been able to experience the things that I've experienced, um, which are life-changing. But I think God would have provided food from somebody if that is what those people needed, whether it was me or somebody else. Because we have that free will, we have that choice of I'm gonna say yes or no. And if Jenny's gonna say no, then I'm gonna bring along somebody else that will. And so I happen to be the person to say yes, and thank God I was, because I have enjoyed every minute of it. And it has not been all sunshine and rainbows, it's been it's been hard. And the one year that we started, somebody tried to convince us to go outside God's will, and we were so pulled by this person that things fell apart. Yeah, and that was we're like, no, we're done.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Are you grateful that happened?

SPEAKER_00 36:49

So you could really see the difference between what it looked like walking in God's will and not it was such a lesson, such a lesson, and and one of the cute stories is that my current, my current, my boyfriend, had I said no, we'd have probably not met because we met in 2012, I believe, at 500 turkeys because he came to volunteer. Yeah, and so you know, I've known him so many years that we've been through so many trials together, and now we're together and we're a couple, and he loves to serve, and I love to serve, and it's just such a wonderful thing, it's so exciting, and only god, relationship.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

I love it. Well, and you talk about like I don't know, I just think about like you said yes, but then like there's the close in prayer, and your sister said yes. It's like this one ministry opened the door though for other ministries, other touch points. Um, you know, feed did feed the need come after 500 turkeys?

SPEAKER_00 37:59

No, it was before. So feed the need was for the church, and we would collect for local pantries, not even for our own church. Okay. Um, but we used that that food collection concept for 500 turkeys. Um, and it's funny you say other things came out of it because one of the other cool parts I never expected was I've gotten phone calls from other people in other states. Hey, we want to do this here. Can I have some advice? There's a a group that does 100 turkeys in Tennessee, and they got up so big, you know. Um one of the one friend of mine, she became thr friends through this. Her and her friends started Mary Meals.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Yes. I was gonna ask, I think that because I remember volunteering at Mary Meals, but I was like, I think that started because it was like something for Christmas.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Yeah, so her and her friends said we want to do this thing, and they got as much as they could, and they I think they did it two years, and then her and I connected, and she's like, shoot, if you can do a 500, we can certainly do more. And then she started doing 500. You know, unfortunately, last year it didn't uh didn't happen for them, and I prayed really hard because I can't imagine for her how hard that was to not do it. I can't, it's like a loss, right? And that's part of our identity when we're known for that, or when we get to see all those miracles and now you don't. So she worked really, really hard, and everything has a season.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Yeah. And so that's kind of where we started at too. You saying that, you know, pampered, pampered night had a season, and that had a season, but then sometimes it's rest, sometimes God's preparing you for what's next. I mean, we just we never know. Um, do you have any cool stories that you want to share, like that you know of that's happened, or things that you're just like, this touched my heart, or I really remember this that's happened through 500 turkeys?

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Oh gosh, so many. Um just this, oh gosh, how do I say it without saying it? Just this year, a guest came in desperate for food for her and her kids, single mom, and she started having a medical issue, but she wouldn't leave. And somebody put two volunteers in the right place at the right time to start taking care of her. She refused to leave, she needed food for her kids. So we have someone on our team now who's in uh EMT, and he came over and started helping her, but his emotions start getting involved because somebody in his family has also dealt with this same medical issue. And so he was in the right place at the right time, and he was they were able to help her and care for her, and we have no idea who she is, how she is. Um, we just helped her as much as we could and loved on her in that moment, and then he's actually a non-believer, and he said while he was standing there getting himself together after she left, someone came up to him and said, Do you have any Bibles? And he's like, Well, we're not really giving them away this year, but I know God spoke to him. And he's like, But let me get your information. And he ordered one through Amazon and got her one sent to her house. That's an amazing story. God is touching people that fight him or walk away from him, whatever. Um, there is another story of oh my gosh, this past year, so we were short 200 turkeys. That's a lot. It is now every year we pray, what number does the board come to? Where do you think God is leading us? Because we want to do what He wants us to do, and we want to do it well.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:08

So we're not gonna go, you know, 10,000 because we we we wouldn't be able to do it that well. Right. So we heard a number, and then we always know God provides more, and then we increased the number. And so um I said, well, we're getting I ordered 1,400 turkeys, and then the hospital usually gives us over 100. They said about 120, so I knew that was coming in, right? And then we increased the number and I said we need to order 80 more turkeys. Well, the hospital stuff didn't come in, and at that point it was a week before distribution, and no grocery store was gonna be able to order us 200 turkeys. They all kind of surprisingly thought, What? Seriously, oh my god, I don't know how we're gonna get turkeys. Obviously, God has some kind of plan, and right so then my human nature says, I'm gonna fix it. I'm gonna go out and buy 220 gift cards for every family that doesn't get a turkey, they'll have a grocery store gift card to go buy one. Right. So I buy$4,000 in gift cards. The grocery store has to scan them, put them all together, 200 gift cards. They worked really hard. Between that and a I don't know,$23,000 turkey and pie bill, it was a lot of money in one day. And um, a friend of mine says, Jenny, I really wish you would have let me collect turkeys. I really think I could have gotten some. And I said, Listen, if you heard that from God, I'm not gonna stop what God wants you to do. Right. Like you can get turkeys, I can do something else with the gift cards. In like 48 hours, she got 200 turkeys. She just got on the phone and said, Hey, I'm on a mission. Hey. She stood in the rain, collected turkeys out of people's cars. Meyer, Walmart, every grocery store in Northwest Indiana. They're like, You're the turkey lady. Because there was a limit on turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

She could only, and she's got a line of her husband and her kids behind her, each buying their limit of turkeys. And the turkey lady's back, you guys. She's getting more turkeys today, you know. And she just had so much joy in it. It was wonderful to watch, but I never stopped her. She would text me more and more counts. I got more and more, and I'm thinking, holy moly. What never occurred to me until afterwards was she was having her own medical issue at the time. And God was able to distract her with serving others in the midst of what you're going through.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

And that was my moment this past year of it wasn't about turkeys. It wasn't about turkeys at all. And my control over how to fix it.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

It was do I let God do I let God move where he wants to move? And if I would have said no, it would have been a different outcome. People would have been fed, but hearts wouldn't have healed. And I think those are the things I think about. How many times did I say no to him? You know. It's overwhelming. Because it is not about me. And you know, there's people that say that. Anyway, there's the haters.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

Well, we don't focus on the haters because, you know, at the end of the day, we know that that's Satan, and Satan distracts, divides, you know, fill in the blank anything that's negative. And I always tell people is look at the fruits and look at the fruits of what comes out. And, you know, I love that story because it is a good, we're all like that. We're all human and we think I've got it in control. We freak out. We don't, you know, God's really been teaching me to go, let me control it. I'm bigger than this little situation. You know, to us, whatever the situation is, it seems huge. But I also think is that's where you have to be in the word, you have to be in prayer, you have to not only just be talking to him, but listening to him because when you are still, a lot of times you will know when to move and not move. And you know what I mean? And it just, I don't know. I think again, we get so distracted sometimes. It's like, I'm just gonna move. And then God's like, yeah, but I I got somebody else that needs like I need to use them because they need something. And I also love how you talked about like she was going through something and giving and serving. And I've seen that over and over again. Is it is very healing. It is very, I mean, there's scientifically, uh, you know, there's research around what giving does to us. Um, but I feel like that's how God created us to serve others. And um that yeah, that's a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Um anything else as we wrap up? Anything I didn't cover, any story you wanted to share that you're like, this was only God, or are you like, I've shared everything and I love it?

SPEAKER_00 47:35

Uh there's there's so much. I mean, I there wouldn't be a podcast long enough for me to only need a part two and three. Um, you know, through it I got to baptize my sister. Through it, um, I got to I got to baptize other people, which is a a huge honor. Um, be a part of other ministries, pull other ministries together, pull other churches together, because there's so much church division.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

You know, come to my church, this church does it wrong. I was hurt by this church, so let me talk bad about them. It's just 500 turkeys really just pulls over 20 different churches in our region together to support.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

And I just love that.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

Yeah, we're here for the same reason, and we're gonna support each other. And whether it's prayer, um, I speak at their church, uh, collecting food, donations, whatever, volunteering. I mean families serving together, parents and children serving together, husbands and wives. Gosh, it is it's just amazing. And I I love it. I know it's not gonna be my life. I'm not gonna do it the rest of my life, but I pray that it's able to be continue when I'm not around anymore or not able to continue it. And more ministries have opened because of it. And I consult so many different churches and groups and ministries. How would I do this? How would I do that? I need your advice, where would you start? And I've talked to people, you should charge for that. I'm like, that's just part of the ministry, I think, is that I'm gonna come alongside you and support you, like the church did for me. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

Well, I love it. You know, I love your only God story, your 500 turkeys, and everything else that God has done through you. Um, and so, Jenny, thank you for sharing your only God story.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

Hey friends, thank you for joining me today on the Only God podcast. I hope today's story encouraged your faith and reminded you that God is still writing our stories each and every day. If you were inspired by this episode, please share, subscribe, and tell a friend. And to stay connected with me and find out about all my books and resources and events, go to shineforwardcreative.com. Have a fabulous day.