Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I'm Different!

It's been far too long since I've posted.  So forgive me.  I feel like a naughty child who once again has done wrong, asking forgiveness.  I'm amazed at bloggers who can post daily.  But sometimes life just flies by, and I wonder how we are already approaching the end of yet another month.

So today I want to report what a great success the "homes for Christmas" idea turned out to be.  The girls all came back to the home beaming, full of excitement.  They loved the families with which they stayed and wanted to know if they could go back for Easter.

I'm not sure what happened in Amy's life in those weeks away, but she realized she is changed.   Twice, since coming back from the Christmas break, she has come up to staff and said, "Do I look different?  I feel different.  I AM different!"  She continued the thought saying how she recals the woman she was two years ago, but cannot believe how different that woman is from the woman she is today. 

Amy arrived to us by referral after she was found sleeping on the street--drunk.  Her one year old child sat next to her, awake and playing.  The police took her to the anti-trafficking group that had formerly helped her.  They brought her to us. 

The past two years have been full of ups and downs with her.  When she came we were not sure she could ever care for her child.  In fact, the agency that referred her wanted her beautiful daughter to go to the orphanage, believing Amy could never care for her child.   We took her only if the mother and child would come together.   Yesterday, as we came in the morning, she played and giggled with her daughter.  Her little one wants hugs and love from others, but always goes back to her mama who cares for her wonderfully now.

No, Amy isn't the same woman who slept in the street two years ago.  She isn't the woman who came to us filled with fear.  She isn't the woman who talked to herself. She isn't the woman who beat her small child.  She isn't the woman who never smiled. 

That is God's power at work.  That is the change that He makes in a life.  That is why we do what we do at Freedom Home.  That is why we pray.