Coincidences?

God never ceases to amaze me.

The other week I received a phone call from a friend of the Mission who shared that they felt as if God was asking them to donate their apartment building to the Rescue Mission. Would we have a use for it? They suggested that perhaps we could use it as transitional housing for men who are leaving the Mission, but need a place to stay that still offered a measure of support and accountability. They even offered that if we didn’t have a use for the house, we could sell it and use the proceeds.

I was blessed by their generosity…but I was even more blessed by their sense of confidence that they had heard the Holy Spirit and were responding. As I discussed this gift with our Leadership Team I discovered that the director of our Men’s Ministry had been praying for several months that God would provide a transitional house for the men graduating from our Christian Life Development Program. A coincidence? I think not!!!! What an amazing God we serve! I am so blessed by both God’s activity in answering prayer….and by a friend who knew how to listen to God and respond to meet this important need.

Wait…the story continues. A few months ago the director of another ministry that runs a transitional house for men coming out of prison had told me in passing that he believed God was preparing them to expand their ministry. They do a great job helping the men in their transition house…and I don’t like to recreate something that somebody else can do better…..so I called them up and inquired – would they be interested in partnering with us to run a transition house for men coming out of homelessness? Amazingly enough, just two day’s earlier they had completed some changes in their ministry and decided that now they were ready should God bring them opportunities to expand. Coincidence? I think not!!!! What an amazing God we serve!

We don’t know what it will look like yet, but with all that God has done so far…I am expecting that God will give us the practical wisdom needed to form a partnership that will provide transitional housing to many men in the years ahead.

- Jere Shertzer, President WSRM