Last year, one of the Community Groups here at Church of the Apostles felt led to look outside of their group and help a family in need. Below is their story of how the Lord has worked through their stepping out in faith.
Last year, our community group decided to partner with Catholic
Charities' Support Circle Program to work with a family striving to
leave homelessness and live independently. We were paired with a young couple in
Raleigh who had two young boys. This couple had been together for almost seven
years but had never had a place “of their own” to live. Instead, they had moved from place to place,
staying in crowded arrangements with family members and even hotels, at times.
Many in our
group attended an optional Saturday morning training by Catholic Charities that
really prepared us for working with our assigned family. In our training, we
learned the importance of building relationships and how having a dependable support
network of people who we can trust and rely on helps keep any of us from being
overcome by negative circumstances.
Throughout
the year, we’ve partnered with our family to find affordable housing, talk through
monthly cash flow and budgets, furnish their apartment, and define and work
toward their personal goals for education, family, and career. We’ve also
enjoyed outings with them like family dinners and picnics, girls nights out,
play dates, and a Durham Bulls game. Some of the most exciting things we’ve
done this year have been being a part of their first-ever lease signing as a
family, helping them move in and furnish their apartment with the help of Project
Green Chair, and
attending their “car blessing” as they got a new, dependable car through Wheels
for Hope.
The year
has been challenging for our group, as relationships with our family have not developed
as easily as many of us had hoped. We’ve also had to realize the need to put
aside our personal goals and expectations for this family and instead shift our
focus to encouraging them in setting and working toward their goals. We
have been forced out of our comfort zones as we have had difficult
conversations and done things like write to and visit an incarcerated family
member.
Nonetheless,
we can see the hand of God in the timing of our presence with this couple. For
example, unbeknownst to the members of our group when we first met this family,
we had several personal relationships with an attorney who was able to help one
family member in a time of need, truly ministering to and encouraging him in a
way that we couldn’t ourselves.
Throughout
the year, we’ve also grown as a group as we’ve had difficult conversations about
how we could best support (and not hinder) this family and how we’d handle
certain activities (such as drug use) should they continue to be an issue
throughout our relationship with them. We’ve been reminded time and again of
God’s unconditional love and mercy toward us. And we know that it is only
through Christ that we are able to genuinely care about and love others through
hard circumstances and wrong choices. Our group has definitely grown closer as
we’ve spent time interceding for this precious family and seen our group members'
individual gifts used to serve others.
No comments :
Post a Comment