My Journey

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Col 3:12

God has called me to be a vessel through which people can feel His love and compassion. I have been a work in progress and taken both baby steps and leaps and bounds in the area of my faith. After taking a short-term trip to Louisiana in April 2006, God really grew a spirit of compassion within me. At the end of that week, I answered just like the prophet Isaiah, "Here I am Lord, send me!"
There is an excitement of being called to do God's work full-time, but there is also much sacrifice that comes in and a process of letting go of the 'world'. I told the Lord that I would give up the things of this world to go where He wanted me to, but when it came down to actually surrendering those things, then I felt the weight of that promise I made. My background is in the field of social work, counseling and management. I am definitely a people-person and I have a gift for developing processes and projects. Throwing in my spiritual gifts of exhortation, discernment, administration, evangelism and teaching, God prepared me for the moment in time that He would quicken His Spirit within me to make the move to serve Him full-time.
I've seen the recovery and healing that is needed in Louisiana (and beyond) as a result of Hurricane Katrina. It's been over 2 and 1/2 years since Katrina hit and many lives remain broken and hopeless. Some people have healed and they are thankful for what they have; God has shown them what is really important in life. Tragedies like Katrina are not something that one just "get's over". However, with time, support and resources, people can regain some normalcy in their life and cope in a healthy way to what's happened.
Please pray for the people in Louisiana for their lives to continue to heal and see positive change. There are so many resources that don't exist and their needs are physical, emotional, social, spiritual, educational, financial and more.
The Evangelical Free Church of America began a Crisis Response Ministry in Louisiana post Katrina. We have gutted homes, cleared debris, cut trees, fixed roofs, and fully restored homes - drywalling, painting, siding, trimming, etc. Since Katrina, we have had over 4,500 ministry contacts doing at least 50 total rebuilds with the help of volunteers across the natiion. My ministry has focused on the emotional and spiritual needs of the people once the work has been done. A system has been developed for routine follow-up to help the people with healing and to strengthen their communities. We have reached out to over 1,500 families through the follow-up ministry. We have recently began networking in communities to form groups for support, fellowship and discipleship. The EFCA is now looking at church planting and further developing core groups in communities.
There are many opportunities for you to be involved in this Crisis Response Ministry.
1. You can volunteer to come and work for a week and coordinate a team from your church.
2. We are looking for short and long-term volunteers with skills in ministering to people, administration, construction, food services, and more.
3. Become a prayer warrior with us. Pray for an abundance of God's provision and for people's lives to be touched by the sharing of the gospel. Pray for the rebuilding materials needed.
4. Become a partner through giving monthly support, or a special offering. (email me for more details)

Thank you for taking the time to read about this journey God has taken me on. I hope that it has touched you in some way. My prayer is for you reading this to find the purpose that He has for your life. I'm finding that obedience and trust go together and they reap both a fruitful harvest and Kingdom reward! May we lift each other up on this journey called life and enjoy Kingdom living right here on this earth.

Many blessings to you,
Mary