Today, I am undone. It’s gorgeous outside and yet, inside – my heart is heavy. Since December, we have seen over 90 different young people at the shelter. The “if you build it they will come,” is certainly true in this case. Each of the youth’s stories is unique and often hard to hear (bear?). Since we opened, we have been waiting to see certain youth – not that we knew their names and who they were – we just knew that they would be there, because they exist in every community. We knew their circumstances, we just did not know who or how many. We knew they would come, but when? Two nights ago one came. Last night, two more came. Who are they? They are the parenting teens. In this case, the mommas and their babies; they have finally started to come.

I ask myself, if we have been waiting for them then why is my heart heavy? Once again – I am wrestling with the injustices of this world. Life is not fair. Why do I continue to be surprised when there is justice to be done? There wouldn’t be a need for Isaiah 1:17 if injustice and oppression and the fatherless weren’t around. And yet, today, I remain undone.

The need for safe shelter is far greater than one space can provide. We need a space for the kids who go home to find the door locked. Yet pregnant and parenting teens need something a little different. Young adults with jobs – who need mentoring and support, but have no place to lay their head – need something else. Youth who have homes but struggling with their parents to find compatibility need something else altogether.

We are doing good, and we are working to do justice. We love kindness, and we need to remember to always walk humbly.

So cheer up my soul. Lets not grow weary of doing good.

Marylee Bates
Director

Micah 6:8 ESV
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Isaiah 1:17 ESV
Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.