The Kingdom of God is Like…
June 22, 2021
This past week, Deanna and her family graduated from the Bridge of Hope program. I had been reflecting back on when she entered the program. I remember she was so tired, carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, worried about how her family would overcome the multiple high hurdles in front of them – the most urgent being housing.
A private landlord made housing possible and from there, Deanna was able to confront other hurdles – debt, employment, divorce, and a big one – self-care. Bridge of Hope’s program model allows families to turn hurdles into goals.
About a year later, I met with Deanna after she had just completed a workout. She was tired, but it was a good tired, a chosen tired. She was lifting the weights of her choice and becoming stronger. She was still working toward meeting her goals, but she was well on her way. And she was invested in self-care.
As we gathered with Deanna, her mother, her children, her grandchildren and neighboring volunteers to celebrate the graduation, Deanna recounted her Bridge of Hope journey. She was grateful for the blueprint that Bridge of Hope had provided and acknowledged that she took it and ran with it. She really did – she knocked it out of the park. AND we were also celebrating her recent acceptance into an LPN program, one of her long-time goals.
Deanna’s daughter turned toward her mom at the close of the event and said, “Mom, you’re the strongest person I know.”
The Kingdom of God is like a single mother lifting free weights…