Dec. 21, 2005 - More Ideas for Blessing Single Parents
I've written before about ways that the church can help single-parent families, and it's wonderful that my own church's ministry to my family provides such plentiful ideas!
I thought I'd share some new stories from this year to serve as examples for others who want to bless single-parent families.
My 13yo son Forrest went on a church mission trip to Peru for a week this summer (along with 10 adults). Each person was supposed to raise $700, and the church mission fund paid the rest. Forrest was able to earn $200, and an anonymous donor from the church contributed the extra $500 on his behalf. Forrest was able to take his first plane flight, visit a foreign country, and, most importantly, minister to the children there. He came home talking about working as an intern in Peru for a year between high school and college. This life-changing trip was made possible through that anonymous donor's generosity.
With natural gas prices skyrocketing, I determined to use our wood stove, rather than our central heat, as our primary heat source this winter. I posted a note on the church bulletin board, asking if anyone had leftover firewood after switching to gas logs (we got a truckload of firewood from someone in this situation last year) or if anyone knew of an affordable source for firewood. Three people offered to give us firewood. One couple and their grandchildren delivered a trailer-load of wood that they had cut on their propertylots of beautiful red oak that burns slowly and generates plenty of heat!
A couple of weeks ago an elder from our church told me he had some things for my boys sent by friends of his former next-door neighbors. We had met the neighbors about 4 years ago, and they have sent clothes for my boys from time to time. (We love hand-me-downs!) The neighbors had told their friends about us, and one of the friends happened to be a doctor in the same medical practice as the missions chairman of our church (who spearheaded the trip to Peru). They sent a bike that their boys had outgrown. It was just the right size for my 9yo Perry, who learned to ride it in about 5 minutes. They also sent two large bags of clothes in excellent condition. Right in the top of one of the bags were two pairs of size 10 khakisand I had just resigned myself to needing to buy some size 10 khakis for Andrew!
The biggest blessing was a check that arrived in the mail last week. Each year our church takes up an offering as a "birthday gift to Jesus" after the children's Christmas program. Those gifts are put in a special fund to be used for needs of members and friends of our church, such as people with medical emergencies or other unusual financial needs, and also single parents. I have received a check each December; the amount always varies (one year it was $400, another $100), and it's always providentially appropriate to our needs each year.
Although my home-based business is growing, this December was a particularly tight month for us financially. Several payments that are due me probably won't arrive until January, and I must confess that I had stewed in anxiety over our finances quite a lot for a couple of weeks. My credit cards were maxed out, and I couldn't see how I could finish paying the month's bills, much less do even minimal Christmas shopping. When I opened the envelope from the church to discover a check for $1,000, I cried for 15 minutes! That was exactly what we needed for the rest of the year. I hadn't told anyone how tight things were, but our Father who owns the cattle on a thousand hills knew just what we needed.
I called the chairman of our deacons to ask how the fund works and how the amount is determined. He said that the women of the church and the deacons work together to identify needs and apportion the available funds. This is not part of the regular church budget but is funded solely through the yearly Christmas offering. This is certainly a program that any church could implement.
I would love to hear what other churches are doing to help single parents. If you have given or received help, please share your ideas!
May God bless each of you at Christmas and throughout the new year!
Mary Jo Tate
Comments
Dec. 22, 2005 - God is truly good...
Posted by timetoshare
...what a beautiful testimony of His abundant goodness! Thanks for sharing that.
Dec. 22, 2005 - Help for Single Moms from the Church
Posted by cmphotomommy
One of the ways my rather large church keeps up with the needs of widows and single moms it to assign those who are without families in town to a particular deacon. They just did this with me recently. (My father passed away in March, leaving me without family in town to help.) If I need help, I just call my deacon, and he will either take care of it or refer it to a ministry in the church that can help. It was a real blessing before Christmas to have someone come over and help me get things out of the attic and put up lights. This is not a perfect system, and as of yet I am not convinced it can stand alone in meeting the needs of orphans and widows, but it is a good step toward helping.
Dec. 31, 2005 - Thanks for sharing!
Posted by Aussiemum
What amazing blessings have been poured on you. I don't receive help financially, but my minister and his wife have been very helpful to me when my son was in hospital and when I had to get a bike put together for my daughter.
Receiving is such a blessing in more than the obvious ways, I find it give us an example to strive for and inspires us to do something achievable for others.
Mel
Aug. 10, 2007 - I see where it says that if you are a single parent in need of help.. to ask but I don't see where to sign up for help?
Posted by Anonymous
My name is Janice and my husband left me with a 10 mo old 2.5 years ago. I haven't recv'd a dime for quite a while, I think 1.5 years. I have had to do it all alone. Daycare is such a large expence as much as my rent really, and he is in the cheaper daycare around here. My son is now 3.5 and really needs to be upgraded to a regular size bed. I have scouted the yard sales but really nothing has turned up. I have put my name on a waiting list at my church associates thrift store for if and when a good one is donated. I live South West of Nashville, TN. If you know of a place that could help me I would appreciate it. There are some other needs too.. a riding lawn mower, a shelving system for my son's toys that we have yard saled. Other than that, we are not too bad off. I am hoping to be able to do a little camping trip, we will sleep in our truck. Need to gather some camping utensils from some yard sales. We litterally haven't been on a real vacation apart from visiting my mother and daughter for a long time. Never just my son and I alone to have fun. I had been severely overweight. I took the money from my bonus and my 401-k money I had saved and had the gastric bypass and now I am feeling like moving again. I did have severely "untreated" depression after my husband left, but now that that has subsided, I am ready to travel again. My poor son really desirves it for putting up with me.
If you think that you help please call 931-682-2972, that is the Columbia TN area.
