Acceptance...

I’ve never NOT been a part of the church. Since accepting Christ at the age of 12, my life as a Christian has been marked by nuance movements in both forward and wayward directions from God. I have never had a time in my life that I ever believed I was anything but a child of God bound to God through the life-giving gift of Jesus Christ. I have found the grace to know only God and God alone. I am on a journey to reveal God to all who will listen and hear.

For the past few months I’ve known the job I was hired for at Sparrow’s Home would be changing. All but four of the original 14 children have come home from Haiti after three years to their forever families and those four will be here in the next few weeks. So I began to wonder, search and pray God would give me a sign where my journey would lead me.

I have found God does have a sense of humor… He can close a door faster than I can blink an eye and if I don’t get it, He finds a way to get my attention. For example, a few months ago I had applied for a position and everything was going to plan (my plan that is) and I needed to go take a drug test as one of the final hiring steps. So, off I go to do the test. On the way I drank a bottle of water thinking it would be sufficient since I had to drive 45 miles to the chosen clinic. I went in to do the test but couldn’t provide enough to satisfy the technician. I went out into the lobby and drank an additional EIGHT (yes, I said 8) bottles of water over a two hour period getting totally water logged. I thought ok I can do this now but again I was unable to provide enough. Basically, I had failed the drug test. Now keep in mind I’ve never done drugs so I knew I was clean but failed to prove it. As I was leaving the clinic three hours after I arrived for what should have been a quick in and out, I left a voicemail message for the hiring manager about the situation and ask he call me the next day. Mind you when I got home that night I couldn’t stop going to the bathroom which in a way was kinda funny. When he called me, the clinic had already talked to him and told him of the “situation” and he asked me to go back for another test. I did take it again after drinking a huge Sonic Route 44 (cherry limeade of course) and was successful. Once again MY plan was on track so He put another hurdle in my way by having the hiring manager tell me he had made a mistake and the offer was $3,000 less than originally stated. Obviously, that wasn’t going to work and it took me a day or two to realize that yes, God had other plans in mind for me. I could tell you a few more similar stories where He closed a door more quietly but this is one of the funniest ones, now anyway.

As the days have gone by, I’ve researched other non profits, agencies, foundations, etc. but didn’t find anything that really reached out and grabbed me. I received an email from my boss telling me about a workshop in Austin about Safe Families for Children and she asked if I wanted to go. I didn’t have anything else to do so I drove into Austin to see what it was about. I walk in the door and I was approached by a young woman who introduced herself as Alison and she made the comment you look so familiar (how many times have you heard that!), and we chatted trying to figure out where we had met. The workshop started and as she talked she mentioned a couple of things and it hit me where I had met her. She had come up to our booth at Summit VIII at Saddleback Church in California and was asking about our rehoming program, that was 2 years ago. So I blurted that out right in the middle of the talk, nothing shy about me!

While listening to her talk about having just moved from the Houston area to Austin and starting the Safe Families program here, the more intrigued I became about how Safe Families works. I listened, asked questions as did others and a flicker of interest started within me. After the program was over I told her I wanted to take the information home with me and pray about it which I did for several days. The more I learned and prayed about Safe Families the more convinced I was this was what God wanted me to find. All I had to do was “be still and listen and He would show me the way.” I called Alison and asked if we could meet for lunch sometime soon and she said that would be great. In the meantime, she emailed me SFFC’s Community Launch Team description. I looked it over, prayed about it and gave it a great deal of thought. When we met, Alison asked me which of the team positions I thought I might be interest in. Of course when I said the Team Leader that was what she had been hoping for. We talked and I left telling her I would continue to pray about whether this was my path. Well, in the next three days, several “opportunities” were placed in my path where a Safe Family was needed. You see, God knows I have to have things put right in front of me to catch my attention from my own little world. I agreed to go to the SFFC Intensive the day before the start of Summit 2014 in Chicago and would see her there.

Safe Families for Children is a movement of the church to provide temporary loving homes for children whose families are in crisis. SFFC hosts vulnerable children and creates extended family-like support for desperate families through a community of devoted volunteers motivated by compassion to keep children safe and ultimately together with their families. Since its inception 11 years ago, 3,100 families have wrapped around 13,000 children and their parents to rebuild their home. As it says in Psalms 68:6, “God sets the lonely in families…”

I forgot to mention, this is a volunteer position so some creative thinking has been in play in my mind as to how I can incorporate SFFC with my current position and continue supporting all the programs coming into Sparrow's. More on that to follow, so for the moment have a very blessed and wonderful day! God is good all the time, all the time God is good!

Blessings,
Sue