As I write this, my heart is heavy. This week has been a dark one for Providence House, but I acknowledge that God is faithful, willing and able to redeem all these situations. He loves our residents more than I ever could. Without going into details, we have had several relapses, breakdowns and evictions, and I am currently watching one resident caught in a downward spiral that is heading toward an eviction or relapse. I am grasping onto the hope that he will, by the grace of God, break through and change his path around. Sometimes it is hard to believe.

                So how can one deal with the evil we have been confronting this week? My failure has been succumbing to fear. “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to [them]?”(Ps. 56: 3-4). I fear what will happen to my brothers and sisters who we have to let out onto the street, are facing mental illnesses alone, have no support or family around them, or have allowed drugs and alcohol back into their lives. But what is the “word I praise”? The Word that tells me “for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Heb. 12:11). He tells me that He wants “all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2:4). That truth can set them free (John 8:32) from their slavery and when Jesus sets them free with that truth, they “will be free indeed” (John 8:36). He promises me that He will “not do wickedly, and…will not pervert justice” (Job 34:12). This is the God I know, and this is the God who will not give up. This is the God who suffers alongside our residents, our brothers and sisters in their extreme pain.
 

Please pray for God’s peace and redemption to descend on this House.