I have been quite busy lately and so has the enemy. I knew coming into this that serving God would not be a picnic 24 hours a day. Sometimes it would be difficult , testing, trying and painful but ALWAYS worth it.
I traveled to South Carolina to Christ Central and witnessed the generosity and unconditional love poured out to total strangers on a weekly basis . Where I was also welcomed with open arms and treated like a queen by total strangers. Where I was given support practically and lifted up and prayed for diligently and earnestly.
Just to come back to not only zero support of any kind but being talked about behind our backs as if we committed some kind of heinous crime by feeding hungry people. It is evidently frowned upon to love the unloved and since when do you ever think it mattered to God WHERE I loved the unloved as long as I LOVE them.
In the name of all that is Holy I will NEVER live long enough to EVER wrap my mind around that.
Even though this was never promised to be easy, the people who I call friends, suffer far more injustice than I dare to compare with my little inconveniences. When I am the most hurt and disappointed,when I am angry and torn at the injustice going on against the innocent, when I feel betrayed and abandoned is when I feel the most compelled to pray for my enemies and those who hate me. THATS Jesus!
I have heard many opinions and solutions on homelessness from people that work with the homeless, people who have been homeless , and people who serve the homeless, and anyone with a website and a donate button can tell you their opinion. I am no expert on homelessness none of us are . We only know what we experience.
My experience is that because I love them the way God has shown me and asked me to love them is that its not popular. Its despised ,misunderstood and hated. People I thought loved me and would support me avoid me like the plague and put me in a box on a shelf and only take me out when its convenient.
Not even the Church, and when I say church I mean people who say they are Christians but walk in fear of walking out the word. They stand for nothing and defend nothing. It is one thing to own the book read it and understand it, it is entirely another matter to believe it, trust it, and apply it and that includes the not so popular parts too.
I don't know what I'm doing or where God is taking me I just know that loving the unloved is hard and challenging. Their is no denying that and it can only be done in Gods strength.
However,when I see God changing and transforming their lives,when I see them delivered from addiction, when I see them get a job,when I see them loving and caring for one another ,when I see God answering their prayers, when I see miracles happening before my very eyes in my little corner of the world, Man.. THATS the good stuff.
Three years ago today my dad died and yesterday Mr. Ray , an elderly gentleman, had a thin little jacket and it was cold. I had been holding on to my dads work jacket for the past three years not yet able to part with it . I kept thinking about that jacket and came inside to get it and kept trying to find a good reason to keep it.
Well I made it out the door almost in tears and gave Mr Ray the jacket. It was a perfect fit. When he zipped it up and I saw my fathers name on it , I felt more joy giving it to him than any pain I felt letting it go. The Good Stuff!
Every Sunday 15 -20 people come to my house for football and fellowship. We watch the game together,we eat together and we fellowship together and for a little while they feel human.I used to be in a hurry for the weekend to get here so I could get out of the house and go off and do something. Now I cant wait for the weekends to come
because I know my FRIENDS are coming over. They are the Good Stuff!!!
