| If you read nothing else today, please read this…
…as we focus on another of the women of Mission Alive who do the challenging work of serving God among people who are overlooked and often forgotten. Laura Allen is in ministry at The Table-Irving (thetableirving.com) alongside her husband, Steve, and others dedicated to:
Working together to build a community within a community that will permeate the neighborhoods of Irving helping everyone we touch see the goodness of God.
Sounds straightforward, right? Except that The Table-Irving’s “community within a community” includes the mentally ill, the homeless, those that have seemingly insurmountable barriers to being able to “see the goodness of God.”
Below is Laura’s honest response about her work with The Table-Irving:
Being a disciple for Christ is hard but so rewarding. It is never comfortable nor safe. Never easy nor clear. That is where I am at this point in The Table- Irving. We are nose to nose with people who are literally and metaphorically fighting their own demons to try and live a life with purpose. How do you help someone who says there are people getting into her bedroom and talking to her, and you know there is no one in her bedroom, but due to her mental health she thinks otherwise? She looks at you, really needing help because she truly is scared. Not only of what she says is happening, but she is really trying to stay out of an abusive relationship and trying to take her life back.
How do you help her know Christ? That is why The Table-Irving and other such missionary models are so important and need help not only financially, but making contacts with those who can help: healthcare services, counselors or just people who can help with the day to day. We need to stay small to help create a community that can lean on each other. Something they have never had before. Trying to provide God moments: show her what a disciple of Christ really looks like. This is where I am, Laura Allen. Following where Christ wants me to go, building relationships with the least of these, those that people cross the street to avoid. I don’t have the answers. I am not always successful, but I need to know that there are people not only praying for me but willing to jump in if I need help. It keeps me going, to not give up because it is exhausting, frustrating and oh, so life-affirming. |
