It dawned on me one day sitting on the couch, in my living room, in my home, surrounded by my family, that if there was a disaster of some type and all of this would be taken from me that I had extended family and friends who would be a safety net. They would catch me if I should fall. I suddenly felt very safe, held my kids tightly, and was comfortable. The troubling reality is that for most of the women who come to the shelter, they have no loving safety net to catch them.
Many of the young moms had a vision of a husband, home, and a family, and it came crashing down when the man, who promised a lifetime of commitment, abandoned her. Without the God-given safety net of the family, where is she to turn? She shows up at GRM a with child or children in tow. The shelter becomes a surrogate family for her and her children. The shelter provides her the love, safety, discipline, and security of a family. If she accepts the love, her damaged heart can be healed. If she rejects the love of her new family, she may seek that love elsewhere, and it always seems to be waiting for her.
This love often comes in the form of drugs or alcohol, but more often, it is waiting just outside of the doors of the GRM in the form of an unhealthy relationship. For the women at the GRM, loneliness is the siren’s song that continues to destabilize and frustrate the women. When that relationship has run its course, more often than not, we will get the opportunity to serve them again and again, offering them the stable, unchanging love of Christ. Jesus offers the only relationship that can actually serve the ladies in the long term is the relationship with Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will not tire of her and abandon her, the way most of her other relationships have done. In Him there is hope.
Isaiah 41:10-13
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
GRM has been serving the homeless since 1931. We often serve men and women who were at the old mission as children. They now have their own children, who, unless we address the crisis, will be guests in about 18 years when they become adults.
How can we break this heart breaking cycle? Hope is the answer.
