Encouragement For The New Year

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:19

A New Heart Of Gratitude
The above card is from our friend Kate. We have ministered to her for around 5 years.  She has faced many obstacles including becoming homeless with teenage children, being in an abusive relationship, and her own struggles with addiction. We encouraged her and loved her through tough times of loss and despair. Kate came to trust us over the years, and when things were at their worse, she would come seek us out for prayer and counseling.

The reason this card means so much is Kate handed it to us as a new person. She was clean and dressed up. She had left the abusive relationship and was staying in another city with family she had reconciled with. She was healthy and had been working a job. She smiled as she said thank you and told us she wanted to encourage us and that Strong Life had made a difference in her life! We are reminded that these incredible outcomes don’t happen over night. After years of doing this, we have someone like Kate stop by every so often and remind us to keep going.

A New Heart Of Compassion
We are excited to announce Rachel Dillingham as our case manager at Strong Life. This gives us an incredible hope of more stories to come that will be like Kate’s. Rachel graduated from Gardner Webb with a degree in Psychology. She will work one on one with friends to help them with employment, housing, healthcare, and addiction recovery.

She not only lays information out before people but helps them connect and start moving forward with it. Most importantly, she listens and takes time to pray for those who need it. She is highly compassionate and excited to be a part of our team to show love to those around us in greatest need by advocating for them. Please pray for Rachel as she seeks to learn and connect with many other resources for our folks to utilize as they find their way home.  

Please help us continue to make this happen. We need the friends of this ministry to get the word out to others who might be interested in volunteering with Strong Life so that we can expand our availability to the homeless community. Please take the time to forward this newsletter to those who might help. For more information about volunteering, please contact John Hays or email us at stronglifenc@gmail.com.