Touching hearts - the work of the ministry

Last night was my evening shift at Hope Alive. It’s usually a bit chaotic through the dinner hour and then things settle down pretty quickly as moms and children disperse to their areas to complete homework, baths, and bedtime. My hope each Wednesday evening is to get a little work done after things quiet down, but last night was just the opposite.

I had children who kept coming to the office asking for my help with homework. The first was a fourth grader who needed someone to play a math game with her - flipping coins to count the number of times heads or tails appeared and then making a statement about her data. After that assignment, we continued with her multiplication problems. While I was helping her, a third grader came in asking if she could read her story to me that she wrote – and typed on the computer –about animal friends who learned the importance of kindness. The story was really creative! As she was leaving, a second grader came in asking for help charting the moon’s appearance for the month starting with last night. With it being a blustery cold evening and him already dressed in his pajamas, I sent him off looking out every window in the house to see if he could spot the moon. He came back to report it was cloudy.

By this time I was feeling pretty frustrated that this was taking the place of “getting some work done”. But then God reminded me that this is the work of the ministry - touching the hearts and souls of those we serve. Realizing this I set everything else aside and finished the evening by having some deep discussions with our moms in the dining room - including next step housing options, relationships and conflicts - and giving hugs to the little ones going off to bed. There’s always tomorrow for that unfinished “task”.

If you’ve never been to Hope Alive, give me a call sometime. I’d love to have you come for a visit and tour. Until next week …

Sue Oehmig
Founder and Executive Director