Hi friends and supporters. I pray that this Armor Up update finds all of you happy, full of joy, and overflowing with peace.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May he turn his face towards you and give you his peace” – Numbers 6:24
We pray here at Armor Up that everyone reading this made it safely through hurricane Ian and that life is getting back to normal for each and every one of you. So many were effected and devastated, some of our very close neighbors. It is so beautiful to see everyone working together to restore and rebuild. We are praying here at Armor Up for complete restoration and healing in the lives of all of those effected.
Recent Events
Armor Up and His Missions Volunteering in Fort Myers / Punte Gorde Catastrophic Hurricane Cleanup with Samaritans Purse
Helen and Rhonda, board members of Armor Up, and I got to experience this outreach for hurricane victims together! We went with HIS MISSIONS and SAMARITANS PURSE put us up at a church! What an amazing organization! They housed us fed us and supplied us with everything needed to go and help GOD’S people who lived through an absolutely horrific hurricane! To hear them recall the terror and fear as they shared their memories of fighting to survive. Literally one woman through tears explaining how terrified she was of drowning while in her attic and all she could do as the waters rose through her house and the raging winds and storm surge screamed outside. She had lost phone connection with her brother next street over while him and his dogs fought for their life and actually rescued a woman being carried off by the raging storm surge waters who couldn’t even get above water! We r in devastation for her and EVERYONE who suffered as she relives her nightmare to us! This is real! This is what happened to 1,000’s and 1,000’s of people and families! As we pulled into this neighborhood the deep sorrow our team felt as we saw their entire lives on the streets. Tt’s indescribable to me. I feel so grateful that we could at least go and love these people with everything in us and just to spread the love of Jesus to them. remind them that they are never alone they are loved so very much by our father in heaven.
We also worked with an 80-year-old VA veteran named bud .He had to whether the hurricane alone with his17 yr old dog and best friend rocket. this man sat in his very old torn up robe on his little porch And he shared with me how he’s just ready to be in heaven with his wife who died three years ago. his beautiful blue eyes just pierced my soul such a story and a life behind those eyes. They will forever haunt me. he was such a precious sweet but very tough old guy. His loneliness just tore a hole in my soul. I was so blessed and honored to get to present him with a Gideon’s Bible signed by all of us. Samaritans purse always gives a new bible to all the people they help when they finish the job. I just love that.
We watched and talked to so many families and the Men who just couldn’t stop the tears As they relived the trauma of all that happened and all that they had to face at that point to try to rebuild their lives and their homes…. they were all so very grateful it inspired me beyond words.
We were able to go help people tarp their houses and their roofs and clean up debris and cut down carports so a family could at least get to their car…. I mean my gosh what an honor to get to go and hug and hold and love on Gods hurting people! their gratitude and humbleness and thankfulness just to see people who cared and they were just grateful to be alive it was truly inspiring! They were actually the light to so many of us. I think all of us were so much more blessed than anything we could have done or said! If everybody just realized how much more fulfilling and beautiful it is to give than to receive the WORLD would be such a better place! I have to say as we are almost home from the drive home my heart is filled such gratitude and thankfulness! Thank u my LORD for allowing me to be a part of this amazing team and for every beautiful soul u put in my path! I will never forget these people. May we all go and be the light today to someone in need! You will receive so much more back than u could ever think of giving and our hurting brothers and sisters who have lost so much from hurricane Ian, they need you. GOD BLESS YOU!
This is an incredible short video you do not want to miss.
Armor Up and Ashes to Beauty “I Have Beautiful Feet” Walk
Loved partnering with Ashes to Beauty to support and be a part of the “beautiful feet” walk for life! Beautiful Feet is a faith-based nonprofit that has founded 60+ pregnancy centers in over 20 different countries. What an amazing nonprofit and ministry! Thank you for all you do.
David Jeremiah Conference
Had a wonderful time with a lot of our ladies from Victory and Freedom Houses at David Jeremiah tonight!
Action Recovery
This is some of our beautiful, crazy, “motley crew.” Love doing recovery and life with all of them! This is at Action Recovery at Action Church which we all attend every Monday night.
Congratulations on 1 whole year clean Nicole! What a miracle you are! Congratulations on 2 months Briana! So proud of you! And on October 4th I celebrated 11 years clean, sober, happy, joyous, and free! God is so good!
Celebrate Recovery
This is how we do Friday nights at Celebrate Recovery at Northland Church.
Armor Up Is Planning Christmas
So grateful and honored that Freedom House and Victory House are housing a combined 14 women. Several of them will be graduating after the 1st of the year, which will make room for new women to begin their recovery journey. It is just so beautiful to see what God is doing in each and every one of these women as they work the steps of recovery to completion and receive the inner healing and to watch them transform from the inside out and become all that God would have them to be. It just reminds me of how the caterpillar starts out as just this little tiny egg and then it turns into a caterpillar and then it eats and eats and eats and grows and then goes into its cocoon and the metamorphosis between that and the beautiful butterfly that emerges is exactly what I see in these women. And every single one of you who supports Armor Up through your prayers and donation is a part of what God is doing in the lives of these women and their families and their children. Please know that you are vital and important to this ministry and these women. I want each and every one of them to have a special Christmas as some of them don’t even know what that looks like. We want to make it extra special of course. We need sponsors to supply a $25-$50 gift card for each of our 14 women to Target, Walmart, etc. We also need donations to fill stockings for each of them, and we would like to put little $5-$10 gift cards in their stockings also, to various places such as Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Chick-Fil-A, Dollar Tree, and anywhere else you think they might enjoy. I thank you in advance for helping to give these women a beautiful, blessed Christmas as the beginning of hopefully many more Christmases to come. We could also use wrapping paper and gift bags. Thank you so much in advance.
Christmas Toys in the Street Outreach
It is that time of year for Armor Up’s Christmas toys in the street outreach we do every year on Christmas Eve day. Every year we collect a minimum of 100 toys, blankets, toiletries, and bibles for all. On Christmas Eve day we take the supplies to the worst areas around downtown Orlando, OBT and Paramore area, and we hand them out to all of the children we can find and their families. It is an opportunity to share the gospel and how much Jesus loves them and remembers them. We are currently determining our need for this event this year, so we will be providing further information on this in a future update.
Get Involved
As always, we rely on your support to make these things happen. If you have it in your heart to give, please visit our get involved page to see ways that you can help us support our mission. Please also like and follow us on Facebook.
We are still searching for a volunteer to help GROW and manage our social media accounts, a treasurer, and a fundraising specialist. Please contact us if you or anyone you know would be interested in helping us.