Starlight Ministries, a ministry to the homeless community and one of Citylife Church’s partners, seeks to care holistically for people, addressing physical, spiritual, emotional, and mental needs. Starlight does this through a myriad of outreaches and activities, one of them being a journaling group run through a local shelter. This group provides space, structure, and freedom for reflection and processing. Here are a couple of stories, written by Starlight volunteers, of God’s mercy and restoration breaking in during those times, sometimes in unexpected ways.
One day at the women’s shelter the group was doing a journaling activity based on the need to love oneself.
A woman–with a big personality–had had a tough day because she was involved in an altercation with another woman at the shelter. As she walked by the journaling group, she hesitated before sitting down, as the woman she had fought with was in the group. She eventually sat down and said, “before I say anything else, I need to apologize to you ‘Shana.’ I thought you were making some racist remark about me.” The apology was accepted by Shana.
The group continued to talk about forgiveness and how one needs to forgive and also let go, not hold on to the issue. Us volunteers facilitated the conversation and brought examples of how sometimes a person does not get their apology accepted, but how important it is to forgive.
In the end, a third person in the group exclaimed, “I learned more about forgiveness today than I did in six months of therapy!” Us volunteers were as surprised as anyone by how the evening turned out but were so thankful that we had been there to witness it. We were also so grateful that God had asked us to be there for that moment, and that we had obeyed and were blessed through it.
“The writing was tough.”
One of the women who had come to the journaling group that day said she had to quit for a bit because the topic was touching a sensitive nerve. “It is tough being here, but I have to make the most of it.”
Another older woman shared her concern for the young women at the shelter. “In my day young people would go back to be with their Mom or Dad. But things are so different today.”
The young woman next to me was tearing up. At first I didn’t notice it, but then I thought, “oh, this is getting a bit tense; should I move on to the next activity?” As I started to change the subject to try to lighten things up, the older woman said, “Hold up a minute, she is hurting- give her time.”
What I witnessed next was three women, in incredibly difficult circumstances, giving all the care, encouragement, and support that they could to one another. The time ended with the older woman inviting the younger woman to go to church with her!
If you are interested in learning more about Starlight’s journaling ministry, please contact Lauren here or through her Citylife email
Love Mercy 