Ausha sat in the pew on Sunday morning wondering how she was going to hold it all together. Her phone had been shut off, her son's alternative school tuition was due, and she didnít know how she was going to feed herself and her three children until her next paycheck. As the offering plate passed by, she took a deep breath and slipped in her last five dollar bill. Her teenage son looked at her in shock. “Mom!” he whispered, “We don't even have enough gas money.
After Ausha's experience with homelessness eight months ago, she threw herself headlong into advocacy for the homeless with the YWCA. Holding down two jobs, she spent her days working for women like herself who need a leg up to support their kids while their father is in prison. She lived in a house she daily struggled to make a home. Garbage bags served as drawers for her toddler's clothes and her teenage daughter slept on a makeshift mattress on the floor.
Before Christmas, she received a call from Margo, an Eagle Outreach veteran who was inquiring about a size for her toddler's Angel Tree® gift. In the course of the conversation, Margo learned about Ausha's situation.
Margo knew that Eagle Outreach exists to meet the year round needs of its Angel TreeĆ families. She saw an opportunity to please her Heavenly Father by coming alongside this woman in her need. She called Elbert, EOM's Executive Director, who provided a bed, and delivered her own dresser to Ausha herself. Judy, EOM's Administrative Assistant, got wind of the situation and put her in touch with a food bank that arranges special weekend pick-up times for working parents.
Ausha was astounded that so much help could come from a simple conversation. She not only received the items that she needed but also felt for the first time in a long time that she was not alone.
Life was still tough. Her heart ached for her other three children still living with their grandmother. She longed to pick up her youngest from daycare each day instead of sending her two teenagers to collect her on their way home from school. The needs of each week were constantly before her. Now at least she knew someone cared.
Months later, that Sunday morning, she placed her last five dollars in the plate because she knew from her experience with Eagle Ministries that God provides. She later told Margo she did it to show her children that God multiplies what you give Him. She couldn't have known this with such certainty if God's children hadn't obeyed His call to minister to her in her need.
That same day, on the other side of the city, an anonymous donor decided to step forward with two-hundred dollar donations for Ausha and two other Eagle Outreach families. When Margo heard the news, she drove immediately over to Ausha's house. She took two hundred dollars out of her pocket and pressed it into her palm. A teary young mother looked up at Margo, unable to believe her eyes. The five dollars she gave to the Lord had turned into two-hundred.
It is our unmerited blessing to see what God does through His people when they listen to Him. The difference between a world abandoned and one triumphant is the obedient believer inspiring faith in another. At Christmas and throughout the year, let us remember to be God's hands of grace to others; His hope when times are hard.
– By Joy Hutton