It was a typical Wednesday at the Vincentian Family Center — laughing with volunteers, helping shoppers find treasures, and watching joy unfold in unexpected places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether someone came looking for a bargain or just curiosity brought them in, one thing was certain: needs were being met, and hearts were being lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where else can you find quality items at 50% off retail and still leave feeling rich in spirit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But even in places of goodness — where generosity and grace flow freely — the enemy doesn\u2019t take the day off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I checked the earrings stand and found several empty earring tags \u2013 without the earrings placed there. In another area where hair clips and bandos are in plastic bags \u2013 we found the bags remaining but no contents. Stolen. Just like that. Ugh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ll often go to the rest room and find old clothes on the floor. Old clothes were traded for new clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few hours later, my feet were aching, so I slipped off my shoes and into my open-toed slippers. Ahhh\u2026 comfort at last! That lasted five minutes. I stubbed my fourth toe so hard I thought it might need its own prayer chain. By the way \u2013 it\u2019s still bruised!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the thing — whether it\u2019s stolen jewelry, stolen peace, or bruised toes (and pride) \u2013 we can often find ourselves limping. We know this. \u201cThe enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy.\u201d (John 10:10) He\u2019ll use distraction, discomfort, even disappointment to chip away at our joy. He is such a loser!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good News! Jesus doesn\u2019t leave us in misery or forgotten or taken advantage of. He amps up the love and opens His arms to our embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last part of John 10:10 are Jesus\u2019 words. He said, \u201cI have come that they may have life (He means you and me), and have it more abundantly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abundant life isn’t the absence of loss or bruises — it’s the presence of Jesus in the middle of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s finding joy where we serve.
It\u2019s watching someone\u2019s eyes light up over a jacket they didn\u2019t know they needed.
It\u2019s volunteers giving joy freely to others and hearts being refilled as fast as the shelves.
Yes, there are days when toes ache and treasures go missing.
But even then — we remember: \u201cThe enemy steals, but Jesus restores.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that abundant life? It\u2019s not just promised. It\u2019s happening — one soul, one sale, one smile at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even in a thrift store aisle, His love shows up in the most ordinary moments and whispers, \u201cYou are part of My redemption story!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It was a typical Wednesday at the Vincentian Family Center — laughing with volunteers, helping shoppers find treasures, and watching joy unfold in unexpected places. Whether someone came looking for a bargain or just curiosity brought them in, one thing was certain: needs were being met, and hearts were being lifted. Where else can you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[143,31518,1210,1769,31519,1392,4504,323,40,31523,159,41,31520,31521,437,15764,31516,31522,31517,24285,11770],"class_list":["post-21874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abundant-life","tag-bargain","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-earrings","tag-facebook","tag-generosity","tag-grace","tag-inspiration","tag-jesus-restores","tag-john-1010","tag-joy","tag-no-tags","tag-old-clothes","tag-redemption","tag-shoppers","tag-stolen-jewelry","tag-stolen-peace","tag-stubbed-toe","tag-vincentian-family-center","tag-volunteers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21877,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21874\/revisions\/21877"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}