FAITH IN ACTION

Have you ever had nothing? Have you ever had to sleep on floor crawling with bugs in an apartment without furniture, trying desperately to sleep in a neighborhood  with sounds of screams and gunshots, in fear so strong that sleep is a matter of exhaustion and not rest? Most of us have never faced this, but Faith in Action recently served a young mother and her children who have this as their reality.

A few days ago we visited Lakeisha, a single mother of a 6 year old son and  2 year old daughter. Lakeisha was living in an Atlanta homeless shelter that suddenly closed,  and she was able to move to a townhouse in a crime-ridden part of the city. Her possessions consisted of a few blue plastic totes of clothing – no bedding, no furniture, pretty much none of the things we all take for granted.

Lakeisha and her children were sleeping on cheap, inflatable rafts and covered themselves with a discarded little girl’s bed “princess” netting to keep the bugs off them as they slept. By God’s plan and to His glory, she had a FIA business card in hand from when a member of our team visited the shelter. She called, and Jesus told us to go.

With the help of many of our  Facebook friends and others whom we deeply thank, an “extreme home makeover” was done and Lakeisha’s small townhome was transformed.  We delivered and installed numerous decorations and furnishings,   including a toddler bed for the little girl, a twin bed for her son, and a queen bed for Lakeisha. We brought dressers and a couch and chair too. She was overwhelmed by God’s provision and wandered back and forth, saying over and over again, “this is so beautiful”

Once we had everything set up I found her son standing in his room with his hand resting on his bed. He looked kind of sad and when I asked him if he liked his new room he smiled and said “YES” but I could sense an apprehension in him. Perhaps he felt that at any moment his situation could change for the worse again, and his bed could be taken from him. Lord help this little “man” be able to enjoy being a child and feel safe in his home.

What is the value of some used furniture and beds? Very little. What is the value of the Christ-like love Faith in Action was able to show Lakeisha and her children on this hot Sunday afternoon? I wish I had the words to describe it to you.  I can’t, but I can ask that you come with us next time and feel what I felt, and see what I saw.

Douglas Senior Services asked us to do the impossible: provide a wheelchair ramp for the Jordan family.  Mr and Mrs. Jordan recently fell trying to get down their front steps.  They live on Social Security.  The DSS caseworker wrote:

“We realize FIA is a group of volunteers and do not have unlimited monetary resources to cover such costs.  We know there will be referrals we make where there is no solution.”

Charles Price with our affiliate ministry The Work of Our Hands visited the Jordan home and did a materials and labor estimate exceeding $6,000.00.  An impossible sum for FiA since we do not solicit cash donations.  Paul Zachos sought a grant from Home Depot.  Then we visited Atlanta Revival Center to shared the FiA vision, and Summer Leonard felt a call to serve with us.  When we visited her home, there was a u-shaped wheelchair ramp with a landing.  The ramp was no longer needed and she agreed to donate it without hesitation.  Charles visited both sites and said it would work.  We planned for July 31-August 1 and recruited a team to cut the ramp into three pieces, transport it from Paulding to Douglas, and reassemble.  Also, members of ARC agreed to pressure wash the ramp in preparation for painting and a youth team agreed to paint.

But how would we lift and move the ramp, which weighed almost two tons?  Even though we had no clear solution to that critical issue, we moved forward stubbornly in faith.  Sometimes you can’t plan everything.  Sometimes you have to leave room in your planning for God to do the impossible.  Three days before the project commenced, Mark Denyse of Denyse Signs volunteered his time and a company boom truck.

Is it coincidence that within days of being given an impossible task, Summer appeared with a wheelchair ramp she did not need?  Is it a coincidence that Charles determined the ramp would fit the Jordan’s home perfectly and it did?  Another coincidence that Mark Denyse had a boom truck and heart to serve? If you think that after reading this, I wish you had been with me and saw what I saw, and felt what I felt as I watched God use Mark and our small faith to move a mountain into the sky.

Alan and Kelli Penn have followed Jesus for a long time.  She is a well known and well liked educator in our community who now leads the elementary program at a Christian school.  Alan works at Delta and was stunned when he realized the Lord was telling he, and his wife the same thing at the same time.

The Penns had moved from their old home to a new one. Rather than sell or rent their house they were amazed that God was sharing with both of them independently a vision to create a small residence for homeless single women.

The vision was simple: a housemother and several single women finance the house by paying the Penns the equivalent of mortgage, taxes, and utilities.  The women would access existing programs and ministries along with eventual self-sutaining employment to transition out of Blair House.

I think it helped when I called Kelli that FiA had provided a washer/dryer set for Blair House along with women’s toiletries and other items. Another thing God has taught me along the way is to seek and nurture relationships with no agenda other than the relationship itself.  God brought me and Charles and Sandra Price together so that when Rebecca came into our lives, I got the call and then, after the government proved to be helpless, kelli got one from me.

And Rebecca is home.

God has taught me many things in the past few years.  One of them is as Jesus said, “the things that are impossible with men, are possible with God.”. The government was powerless to save a retarded young woman from homelessness. What would God do?

As you read this story, please don’t think that I just didn’t know who to call, or what to say. I am pretty resourceful, never give up, and having been in government 30 years, know it well.  After spending almost a day on the phone and internet, I confess to being angry that the government had nothing, and that this problem was mine.  Not because it was a burden. The anger was that my inadequate self was all there was between a retarded young woman and homelessness. That did not seem like any kind of way to run a so called social safety net.  Me? I’m it?

Of course amongst the phone calls there was much prayer and the realization that we needed a short term plan first and then a long term placement for Rebecca. To get into a group home where she could have supervision, Rebecca needed to be “funded,” through Social Security or other means.  In the meantime, she would be on the street in 48 hours.  Douglas County has a ministry for homeless men; it has a shelter for battered women. For Rebecca there was nothing and I started thinking about MUST Ministries in Cobb or City of Refuge in Atlanta.

Then, it hit me: what about Alan and Kelli Penn?

Part 3 to follow…

Neil and I were at Shakira’s home to bring her a chest of drawers. Some time ago we had brought her a beautiful king size bed and met her family. Yet another single woman with children doing her best to make it, part of an endless supply we have in an America where fathers disappear.

Before we prayed, I asked her, “do you know Jesus?”. She became upset and said not like she should. So we prayed and I think that the Lord gave me a word the burden she carries. Neil has followed up and we are praying that Shakira says “yes” to our offer of relationship.

The same weekend Paul and I were at Jill and her mother’s small home shared with others to bring a sofabed. Jill has been sleeping with her new baby in a recliner because there is no room. Her husband left her and his baby daughter for his “first love,” they said.

I asked Jill, “do you know Jesus” and she smiled. “I talk to Him every night.”