My husband, Tom, and I work at a ministry called, “God’s Resort,” a transitional housing arena for people to recover from whatever ills have happened to them and then to be able to move ahead with more confidence that God is able to shepherd them. Many are unstable people, sometimes due to drug abuse or alcoholism or even incarceration. But some have just come there because everything they thought they could depend on was taken from them by the cruelties of life; maybe divorce or financial loss or a death that left them alone and unable to cope. They receive a home, yes, but more importantly, they get a community who are followers of Jesus who want to help them learn the most important thing – to commit their lives to Jesus as Savior and Lord and to get the tools they need to walk with God by faith. The Gospel is given to them often and lived before them.
Both Tom and I have siblings that were foster parents. We would often do babysitting for their charges and also had them in our home. From that perspective, my heart hurt for how awful it was that those kids had been so wounded by neglect and abuse by parents who made wrong choices.
But now, we are on the opposite end---helping those parents whose kids were taken from them. Those parents, the ones who are seeking the help of the Church, know that they have wounded their kids. The grieve over their past. From this perspective we get to see the work God does when He calls people to Himself. It is a blessing to find the sweetest attitudes in the new believers at God’s Resort who are learning to walk with God as their source of LIFE. They are growing in faith and learning to call on God to be their light and strength. Their prayers for their kids are so powerful and heartfelt. They ask God for grace for their kids to forgive them. They pray for the other addicts who are wounding their kids now. They pray for God to bless the enemies that wounded them. They pray for the foster parents and grandparents. And they pray for the church to offer their living Hope to the world.
It is such a joy to watch God empower the people He calls, and we are enjoying being part of His answer to their cry for His help! They need acceptance from the church and they need our help becoming stable enough to handle all the many steps they have ahead of them. I want to repeatedly offer to them the confidence expressed in my favorite line from the hymn, “The King of Love, My Shepherd Is…”
They will not lack anything if they belong to Jesus and Jesus belongs to them.
“The King of Love, My Shepherd Is”
The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack since I am His
And He is mine forever and forever.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.
My dear friend…
Tonna lives in Joplin, Missouri. She and her husband, Tom, have four married children and now twelve grandchildren! She shares that it is a joy for them to look back on how profitable it was that they started early seeking God’s guidance, asking Him to “number their days,” and they are so grateful that God surrounded them with like-minded friends!
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