Why I do it.

It's 10:45 pm on a Monday night. "Gloria" just left 15 min. ago. Along with my wife and another volunteer, we spent 45 min. allowing Gloria to unload her pain on us. She told us about the family pain she's facing, some signicicantly deep wounds from her past, as well as wounds in her present. Even in posting this, I need to be careful that I don't create more wounds by saying too much and breaking another trust. Yet I want people to hear that there's a reason - I want to read it myself - there's a reason that we continue to hold Monday night meetings, even when sometimes the students seem to (or verbally do) say they're just not interested in any of this God stuff. It's so that, when life get's to be too much, we have the relational equity to be the person a Gloria comes to. When the pain threatens to drive them crazy, or when they hit bottom, they can know that there's somebody who cares for them tremendously more than many of the adults in their lives. It's all about that one, hurting lamb of His that we get to shepherd.
I don't know how to care for Gloria, except to listen. When she hugged me goodnight, she clung hard. She needs a healing only God can give. Unfortunately, she attends church with a family member, and it hasn't "done anything" for her. Still, she needs to experience His love, and we get to be His hands and feet. I definitely am not taking that lightly after my talk with her, as her trust has been broken so many times by the closest adults in her life. Why should she trust us... but she has. Now we run to God for the wisdom to know how to love her and gain that trust. Would you please pray for Gloria, and pray for Pam, Shari, and I as we care for her. I am so thankful that we could be sitting their when Gloria needed to unload. I'm not sure what prompted it, but I'm glad we had this Monday night. I'm glad I do what I do.