Where Is The Love? 

Cardboard Stories!

Tammy Tangent Tuesdays

Hi Beautiful!  I pray you were able to sense the unique stories that every Cardboard Story related.  Even as I write this, my heart is so heavily burdened.  This sense of loss is clouding over how I generally start these Tammy Tangent Tuesdays.  Tears just pour down my face hearing the testimonies of each individual beloved.  Homelessness is real and more predominant than most people even dare to understand.

I have walked the trails personally and frequently.  I have ministered to these tender hearts.  I have clothed, broken bread with (eaten together while listening), even given temporary shelter and employment to some of the homeless.  It’s heartbreaking.  I can even identify with most of these precious loved ones and their stories.

I may not speak four languages, nor have I built robots, or received a scholarship to play baseball; but I have lost it all and started over.  I have a son who courageously battles life with epilepsy.  I was a single mom working two jobs not knowing if it was going to be enough to keep a roof over our heads, and my sons and I escaped a violent environment. 

I understand their pain and their sense of loss and desperation.  And let me share, without embracing the hands and feet of God, I probably would have ended up like the many beloveds who are finding themselves homeless and without hope.

Where’s the Love?  If God created His Beautiful Beloveds to glorify Him, how does one look at society with all the tragedy and loss surrounding so many beloveds and see love and grace being extended?

You know, I don’t know.  It breaks my heart.  I’ve suffered greatly myself, but I also have encountered the hands of God reaching down to help me back up.  He’s a gracious God, slow to anger not wanting anyone to perish, and that’s where we get to be His vessels by being the hands and feet of God to those who are in need.  What an honor!

A picture speaks a thousand words.  Nothing needs to be said further.  There’s a lot of homeless beloveds in our communities today, working and not working.  When I shared last week that I was hearing and witnessing a lot of beat-up beloveds who needed a lot of Love, His Great Love, to be poured into and have their souls nourished with support and encouragement, I was not talking about these beloveds whose stories are written on cardboard boxes.

Since being the hands and feet of God can and should be relatively easy, especially with the many gifts the Lord has blessed each of us with, why are we allowing this epidemic of homeless beloveds to continue?  It’s not going to go away; it’s common life now.  We all can make a difference.  As Mother Teresa said, “If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” 

​​

For those of you that missed my last homeless couple updates, Tammy and Dave are now in their respective three-month programs with CARE.  They did get split up, but it’s a small sacrifice to pay to get back on their feet.  They taught me a lot about how limited resources are for those without under-age children.  We need more resources to bridge the gap between church and state.

Tammy and Dave are one of a few homeless couples that I have fallen in love with, ate meals together, loved on, temporarily employed and put in a hotel while ministering to them as best as I could.  One person can make a huge difference.  One life at a time!

 

Weekly Challenge:  I know most of us can’t afford to feed a hundred people, but this weekly challenge is to buy a prepared meal or two, a bagged lunch with extra milk (milk is a great source of protein and calcium that they desperately need), and hand it to a homeless person with a little tag or handwritten note just saying, “You are not forgotten.  I will pray for your protection.  There is hope!”  It is such a small token, but one that is greatly needed.

Please take a few minutes and look them in the eyes and smile.  They are not to be feared, but loved on.  They are just so full of shame, that is why they struggle with making eye contact and look down.  I’m sure you can appreciate that.

I pray the Lord will open your eyes to the many beloveds who are homeless and in need; and that you become blessed as you minister to the less fortunate being God’s hands and feet to those who need to be touched by His Great Love! 

Until next time…

Thank You For Being Beautiful You!