I read this article today and thought I would share. The link is down below.  It represents well what we saw over the weekend as Mark, Josh and I went to Hope United Methodist Church to help with their Christmas outreach.  The numbers of those in need doubled from 200 families to over 350 since last year.

Pam, the missions chair and dear friend, asked me to help pray with those who were willing.  What I heard from so many was the need for a job.  Many of them had been employed, but with the economic downtown, they had lost their job and their worlds were turned upside down.  One woman with four children was desperate for a job, and her landlord was allowing her to stay rent-free while his rental property is beginning to go into foreclosure.  She was literally praying for and receiving a dollar from here and there to survive on. The men…oh, the men…to be without a job, to not be able to provide in the way that society deems worthy…they were so broken in spirit.

What startled me the most was the drastic increase in the number of those battling serious illness.  We’ve seen a few in the past, but this time there were so many battling cancer.  Ovarian, breast, prostate, and oh, so many others.  All this did was to solidify what we learned at the craft shows for my dad’s jewelry…it is unbelievable the number of younger and relatively healthy people being brought to their knees in weeks…all too often to be gone before anyone had a chance to breathe.  For the first time, I saw men and women donning the surgical masks illustrating all too clearly how sick they were.  Yet, their need for food brought them out.

The hallway was overwhelmed with people, in part because it was too small to hold all that came, but also because many heard of what Hope was doing and decided to wait in hopes that maybe there would be a box left over for them.  There were small children clinging to their parents; teens looking angry and bewildered (yet, sometimes their faces would soften when they heard voices that were encouraging, non-judgmental and warm); and so many who struggled to hold your eyes as a look of shame crossed over their faces.  At times, it was hard to not be overwhelmed by their pain and fear, but they are His…He loves them as much as He loves any one of us.  And they so needed to know His love through our love, kindness and smiles…

“For God does not show favoritism.”  ~Romans 2:11

What I hear from others, sometimes, is the temptation to blame others for their circumstances.  In court, you’ll often find the victim being questioned as if they were at fault for what the accused has done.  Occasionally I even hear it in this line of work, without the person speaking really knowing the facts of an individual’s case (generalizations are the best in making something seem valid)…”well, if they would work at McDonald’s”…let me tell you that the vast majority would be willing to take whatever job they can find.  Even as I stood in Target today, the cashier talked about how Target had hired a bunch of workers so that they could take them all down to 15 hours…no benefits and guess what, small paychecks.  It is not so easy, folks…  And for those who make the argument against those who are making bad, or not so good, decisions…beautifully, this weekend many of those who were struggling with their own choices, willingly confessed that to this prayer team asking for prayers to help them live better, more holy lives.  They, too, want change…

“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.”  ~Leviticus 19:15

As I prayed, I found that they all needed to hear that they are special; not in a superficial quick string of words, but with the Holy Spirit’s tender direction and reach. They needed to hear that they have been designed by God with a purpose and a gift not just to benefit them, but to help others.  Time and time again, under their breath, I heard them thank God and rejoice in that reminder.  They needed prayer reassuring them that even if financial prosperity doesn’t return to them in 2012, God is still here, He won’t forsake them, and He is making ways ahead of them for their needs.  They spanned all ages.  I talked with small children from as young as 4 to grown-ups who appeared to be in their 90’s.  Couples came in together holding onto each other with their eyes as well as their hands, families–often with only one parent, and many, many single men and women joined together to pray with us even though they did not know one another.

So as we make our final preparations this Christmas week, please remember the blessings you have truly been given.  And remember that we are in the midst of a “Great Recession” that is impacting way more people than you realize.  You don’t have to go across the world to the fields of another country; just look in your own backyard.  The stories in this article tell it all too well, and even better than I can.  I hope you’ll take a moment to read their stories and remember them all in your prayers…for it is just not here in the metro-Detroit area, but all over the cities and fields of this great land.

Stories that need to be heard…please click to read

“The Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.'”  ~Acts 10:34-35