We are about to enter my favorite season, namely Spring. I love the sights, the smells and even the sounds of new life all around. I can hardly wait until the cold winter days are in the rear-view mirror and the warm, sunny days replace them.
I couldn’t help but notice that the Bradford Pear trees all over town are in full bloom. Those beautiful blossoms are impossible to miss. They just shout that Spring is here … or is it?
I have four Bradford pears in my yard, and they have been fooled more than once. They put on their show in early March and then comes that one last appearance of Winter and everything changes. It doesn’t kill them, but it sure takes its toll on their appearance.
At our two shelter, Faith Refuge and Faith Mission, we see folks all the time who are in the winter season of their lives. They are looking for a fresh start. They have been beaten down by the streets and many times by their own choices.
I am so grateful that we have something to offer them. And I’m not talking about just a bed and a meal. I’m grateful that we can share the Love of Jesus from a heart that has been changed by Jesus. We can share with them that God has a plan for their lives, and we are happy to walk with them as they discover it.
Yes, winter might slip back in unexpectantly from time-to-time because we live in a fallen world and God never promised that His way would be easy. But He did promise that He would never leave us or forsake us.
I hear men and women at our shelters say all the time that they never had someone they could depend on. They didn’t know what unconditional love looks like. Praise be to God that we can show them and that the winter season of their lives doesn’t have to be forever.
God wants to do a new thing in their life.
