Steadfast Love
October 21, 2020
The other morning I woke up with this scripture in my heart:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
the Lord’s mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in the Lord.”
-Lamentations 3:22-24
As I write this, Maria and her two children are on their way to Texas. When Maria entered the Bridge of Hope program, we felt God’s “yes” for her family. The journey with Maria’s family was both beautiful and difficult. Though Maria found housing, held employment and connected with Neighboring Volunteers, there continued to be many barriers to stability and sustainability that were beyond the reach of our program.
As staff, we continued to come back to God’s “yes” for Maria, which is so much stronger than the greatest barriers facing her. We trusted God to make a way for Maria while persevering with her.
It is literally poetic to find this passage of hope in the book of Lamentations. These verses are part of a poem of grief, imploring God to end suffering. Even as we grieve the systems that place barriers in Maria’s future, we claim God’s presence and work to create a world where Maria and her children continue to know love, mercy and hope.
Maria and her children will now live with family and will have employment and childcare support. Though she will no longer be here in our neighborhood, we trust that God’s steadfast love and unceasing mercy goes with her.
So this too is a story of success. It’s a story of neighboring. It’s a story of a bridge to hope. It’s a story of being faithful to God’s “yes” and a commitment to learning and growing from there, together. We celebrate all that was able to grow and thrive in Maria’s neighborhood of support and all the lives that were changed.