Hope.Coffee.Melody.

Tonight was a reminder of why I am involved with Children’s Ministry. Every other Monday evening a group of us head out to the two neighborhoods where we pick kids up for church on Sundays. Since it is getting close to the end of the semester, Lots of people are busy with homework and Music Recitals. So tonight there was just two of us. You never know what to expect when you go visit.

At one apartment we are invited in by the mom. The eleven year old girl had just gotten a new glass collector fairy and is excited to show us all of the ones she has collected over the past year. I have known this family since I first started helping out with this ministry. So for the past three years Ive seen her grow so much. Her mom has been in and out of jail and her father died two years ago from a car crash. Despite all the hard times she has had to go through, she loves God and she isn’t afraid to share that. She also loves to sing and every time she comes to church she asks to join the worship team.(we are working on getting her to worship workshops) Whenever I see her I see Hope breaking through darkness. I see Joy in the midst of pain. She is a blessing.

There is another family that is always fun to visit. When I knock on the door I hear kids running and screaming and through the door I hear “Don’t open that door” as the mother tries to prevent her four year old from letting complete strangers in. Once they realize its us, the little girl who was at the door yells “The Church is Here!”. Tonight when we stopped by, the mom greeted us at the door, she seemed very tired and stressed out. (Who wouldn’t be with five kids under the ages of 10 to take care of while working and going to school?) She all the sudden got this look in her eye and exclaimed “Will you please pray for us, please come inside and pray for us.” Dawn and I looked at each other and without hesitation headed inside. While fighting back tears she began to tell us how unexpectedly several things had just happened today. She was laid off from her job, the job that also had a child care benefit that made it possible for her to go to school. And on top of that, the father of two of her kids has a restraining order and they had been to a counselor just that day because of some problems. So we prayed for her, with kids jumping on my lap and playing with my hood, we prayed for God to come through, we prayed for hope and peace and joy to fill their home. She was crying hopeful tears by the time we where done. She was just praying earlier today that she had no idea what she was going to do and when we came to the door she was encouraged that God had heard her prayers. Sure by showing up tonight we didn’t solve any of her problems but what God did was bring hope. He used us as servants to be able to bring life to a place where darkness is trying to break in.

This is why I do it. Because the fact that Jesus gave his entire life for us that we could have hope. He shed blood to make it possible for us to know God and then he rose from the grave, conquering death. The same power that brought him to life is inside of me. It is inside of the Church. God’s light is shining brighter and brighter and I am lucky to be a part of that. Hope is breaking through.