Faithful Presence In A Hard Place

Faithful Presence in a Hard Place

Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart.

I first met Karen and Paul when our family started attending weekly services at a local shelter in our community, only two blocks from our house. Karen and Paul were two of several leaders in the kids’ program at the time. Each week I would go to the kids’ area since my youngest was afraid to go alone, and after several weeks Karen warmly offered to allow me to be one of the weekly helpers, to which I happily agreed. Every week I watched as Karen and her assistant, Paul, faithfully served alongside several other helpers.

As the months went on, a few of the workers’ attendance dwindled and then ended completely. Eventually, I asked Karen and Paul what had happened. Karen shrugged her shoulders and they explained how the helpers were using drugs again. They then affirmed their commitment to the people and families who come through the shelter’s doors.

Karen and Paul’s love of the kids is obvious, and they have a passion for serving that is inspiring and incredibly hopeful to me. Their example reminds me that each person, no matter what they struggle with in life, has value and is made in the image of God. The Scripture verse they recite with the kids each week is simply that God loves us. Karen and Paul are living examples of never letting loyalty and kindness leave them. They wear it like a reminder for all to see, and you know it’s written deep in their hearts.

When we remain faithful, even in a challenging place, we will exude the same kind of hope that Karen and Paul do. We may not all be called to work in a shelter, but I believe that there are hurting people around each of us whom God would want us to befriend.

— Kendra

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Befriend someone who is going through a hard time, faithfully pursuing them with texts, phone calls, or showing up even when they don’t or can’t return the friendship in kind.