I wished at that moment that I could offer her an alternative, but I didn’t see how I could. I had two elementary aged boys, a small house with one bathroom and we lived paycheck to paycheck. There just didn’t seem to be a way to help, especially because she was a minor. I remember standing on the sidewalk watching her walk away praying that someone would intervene. I heard that small voice whisper, “Soon you will.”

Several years ago, we got a call to take a pregnant teen into our home. The caller offered to bring me a bed for her if I would only consider it. We agreed to meet with her and received offers to help with clothing, medical care and other needs if we accepted her. Before we met her, we got a second call about another girl and offer of a second bed. We took them both and so our three and a half years as a shepherding ministry began. We housed thirteen women and five babies in that time.

Life wasn’t easy and there were days when I wondered how we were going to make ends meet, but God continued to come through over and over again. We didn’t move, income didn’t change and the boys got older. At one point, we had three pregnant girls, two babies, our two boys, two adults and three shelties in a 998 square foot house with one bathroom. A food bank helped supply groceries enough to pass the overflow onto our church to start a food pantry.

People amazed me because they would say to me, if I had. ____ I would be doing something like that for those in need. What they didn’t realize was that many had more than we did. In fact, many still haven’t made good on those comments. This isn’t to bash them, but to make a point.

Do what you believe God wants you to do with what you have. He will supply the rest. Really!!

The miracles continued and we managed until my boys reached their teen years and worried about sexually active women with my teen boys. Next God sent me to the jails to work with pregnant inmates and I worked almost ten years with over 2,000 women. Over and over, God opened the necessary doors and provided resources for our family and the family of the inmates I worked with.

Don’t look at what you have and limit God’s ability to use you to make a different. Answer the calling and do what you know in your heart He has called you to do. Keep your eyes on Him and not on your circumstances. You never know what blessings wait around the corner!

John writes that we should love another because God loves us. Most people want to be loved and accepted. It’s a universal hunger that is so strong that babies die without love, communicated by human touch. As John explains, as we allow God’s love to shine through us, others see God.

What can you do today to let God’s love shine through you? Can you smile at the harried woman behind you in line at the checkout counter? Can you stop and listen to a child or a co-worker who needs to be heard? Can you physically touch someone in a non-threatening manner to communicate your concern and your compassion?

Look around you. Find ways to let love color what you see, what you do and how you look. Others looking for love will see you and get the message.

Every time you touch someone

with your open heart,

it sends a healing ripple

farther than you’ll ever know.

Never give up

Bloom, wherever you are, in every way, every day!Available now – Bloom Girl Bloom (Real Women with Real Answers) Booking speaking engagements.   Thanks for stopping by. http://www.janrmiesse.com

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