Last month, Faith Refuge, our shelter for women and children celebrated its 12th year of ministry. Literally thousands of women and children have sought safe harbor there from the streets and whatever caused them to end up on the streets. Some have escaped the vicious cycle of couch hopping or living in their cars and found a place of hope and a brighter future.
Others have come straight from jail or prison hoping to get one more chance to get it right. There have been countless heartbreaking stories of children given up to the system because of drugs. Some never thought they would ever be wanted by their families again. They say over and over that in the beginning, Faith Refuge seemed more like the end of the road rather than the beginning of something new.
But God.
At a recent graduation ceremony, Susan, who had completed our 13-month New Beginnings program said this. “I grew up and lived 10 miles from this place, but it took me over 40 years to get here.” Her life had been one long addiction filled exercise of survival and buying everything the world had to sell. Here was a lady who had gone through the motions of living, but never had joy and purpose until she came to a homeless shelter.
She said that number one, God met her immediately. And he gave her a word to hold on to. That word was intentionality. To her that meant there was more to life than waking up and surviving. God had a plan for her.
She discovered that plan included making Him the Lord of her life and the restoration of her family. On the front row at that ceremony were sisters, children and grandchildren. Loved ones she hadn’t seen in years. And God had given them all back to her because she was willing to follow Him.
We see a lot of “But God” moments at Faith Refuge. Some are nothing less than miraculous. For Susan, it meant living life with intentionality for the first time. It meant finding the purpose God had all along just 10 miles away at a homeless shelter.
We never know who God is going to send us or how He wants to use us in their lives. Sometimes they just need a loving, safe environment to see God’s plan for the first time. I’m glad He uses Faith Refuge for that every day.
