Stories of Grace

We at Grace may wordsmith what we're going to call the sort of thing I'm about to do in this blog entry, but I think "Stories of Grace" is a good start.

A woman we'll call Mary (not her real name) came to church a couple weeks ago, looking for staff or pastors to talk to. I don't know who she talked to but she ended up at the office this afternoon, saying she'd been encouraged by someone from Grace to stop by regarding her needs. As I asked her what I could help her with, she said she had just gotten out of the hospital. Mary is a black woman in her 50's, possibly early 60's, who has five grandchildren, but her daughter recently passed away--I don't know the circumstances of her passing. She left the five grandchildren alone in the home for it sounds like two weeks, to be cared for by the eldest grandchild, who is 16 years old. This was not Mary's choice, but she had to go to the ER for lung problems, where her lung collapsed and she found she has sickle cell anemia.

Mary was just released from the hospital a couple days ago, rode the bus to her doctor and then to the Grace offices. She needed to have $62 to her landlord by 5:00 in order to be not thrown out, along with her 5 grandchildren. She showed me her papers from the hospital, and I could just tell from her personality that this was real, not a story. Mary also needed money for a bus ticket back to Winter Springs (the cheaper housing near Moss Rd). I got the sense she had five hungry children waiting for her when she got there. I gave Mary enough to cover all three basics for today, with the prayer that God's spiritual and physical healing would go with it, and this small amount of money would be only the beginning of the road to recovery and provision for Mary and her grandchildren.

I'm getting a bit smarter about these things, like asking for hospital papers, and getting a name and address for her landlord. I much prefer to give provisions of food or clothing than money, but the need for rent is just as real a need as food. I'm reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 25 where he talks about separating the sheep and the goats:

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

I want to be counted among the sheep. And I want God to receive all the glory for it because of his local church Grace Fellowship, not because of me.