What is Christmas Spirit?
She was sitting in the second row on the right side...with a cane and oddly enough...a Mesa Volunteer tag.?She looked displaced.?So I introduced myself to to help her feel welcome.?
"Hi, i'm Jordan.?How did you find us?"?
She launched into how she ended up at the Double Tree...attending our church service.?She shared a little bit of her difficult journey.?Homeless.?Two daughters.?Estranged family.?Lots of pain.?
I knew we'd need to explore more to figure out how we could truly help her.?So, after sitting with her for a few minutes, I asked her if I could find some people who could explore more of her story to see where we could help.?I walked out to the lobby and found two women i believed could investigate, discern, and ultimately to PRAY with this woman.?Abut a half hour later I looked on as she wept sitting next to them as they prayed for her.
After the service was over, one of the two women informed me she invited the woman?to go home with her to get off the street for the night.?I could feel my eye brows rise in disbelief.?Well...5 days later she is still at this family's house.?She is being loved on, prayed with, taken to court dates...
What if the gift we give to people this year is the same gift Jesus gave to us?
PRESENCE.?LOVE.?LIGHT.
In the middle of someone's night, we can let Jesus' light shine through us by doing what he did for us for others.?And I believe peoples' lives will never be the same.
I blacked out their names, their request, but wanted to share the letter of gratitude this woman wrote to our church...because she had?"never been held tighter by God."
"I was homeless and she said, "If you have no place to go for Christmas, you can spend it with us."
THANK YOU to the anonymous saints who are led by the Spirit to SHINE by SHOWING the love of our incredible Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ!!