A Very Heavy Heart

As I posted a while back, I love this time year - all the busy football games, Thanksgiving, and the mother of all things happy: Christmas.

But for the last 9 days, my heart has absolutely been dragging the ground with fear, dread, and worry.

There's a precious family that our church and one or two other churches in Greenville are trying to help.  It's a mom named Cynthia, and she has four children: 2 boys (11 and 8) and 2 girls (6 and 5).  Two of the children have special needs, and one of them is severe.  The youngest girl attends a wonderful place in Greenville called The Meyer Center.  I can't quite put my finger on what her disability might be, but she doesn't speak or stand, and she wears 18- to 24-month clothes...at age 5.

They have been homeless, and Cynthia couldn't get a job without a high school degree, not to mention that she had to stay at home with the 5-year-old all the time (until their social worker got her enrolled in The Meyer Center).  Cynthia is now working towards getting her GED.  The social worker was also able to obtain housing for her, through the Department of Social Services somehow.  They have just recently moved into the house, and the social worker reached out for help for Cynthia because the next step for this loving, precious, caring, wonderful, and let me repeat LOVING mother is





removal of her children.






The house had no furniture, but we and another church have provided beds, a sofa, an entire kitchen full of household goods, clothes, and some toys.

Then the lights went out on Friday.  And when the lights go, so does the heat.

You can probably guess that if you can't pay rent, you also can't pay for utilities...yet that debt follows you.  Cynthia has accumulated a large debt to Duke Power - $2,800.  The majority of it is fees and penalties (doesn't that just infuriate you??)  Combined with Cynthia's history and due to some issues at this house with the prior tenant (which of course has nothing to do with Cynthia), Duke Power will not, under any circumstances, no way, ever, ever, ever turn the power back on.  Not even to put her on a payment plan.  Clearly, the State will take her children if there's no heat and light.

Many of you loyal readers have heard all this from me sometime this past week in person, including this revelation: I woke up Saturday morning at 6am, sweating under my duvet, sheet, and quilt...and I immediately realized that Cynthia might be awake because she's freezing.  Do you see why my heart is so heavy?

I have collected approximately $1,200 to help with Cynthia's needs.  There are all kinds of things they need, but the power is first and foremost.  I have ZERO confidence that paying the Duke Power bill will ensure that the power will still be on next month.  I have no idea if Cynthia has any income.  I have had people say to me, "Well, she MUST be on welfare."  "She must SURELY get food stamps, and that's considered income."  "Does she even have a way to pay for the power if it comes back on?"  "Has she gone to Miracle Hill/United Ministries/GAIHN/SHARE/The Salvation Army, etc, etc, etc?"  I don't know.  I don't know what her income is, I don't know what she will do next month, I don't know what she did last month, and I don't know how in the world she would even get to any of these places that everyone thinks she should go.  I don't know if all this is a waste.  I don't know if we are throwing our money and donated goods away. 

I DO know that she almost cried because she thought we were going to leave her house last night without giving her candles.

I DO know that she was grateful that Russell and our friend Bill picked her and her kids up across town to bring them home because their ride home failed to show after several hours of waiting.

I DO know that the kids obediently listen to their mama when she takes "the voice" with them.

I DO know she fought back tears when we prayed with her, that God would keep her safe and watch over her and her children.

Here's something else I DO know, as told to me by my friend Amy Martin: (read this carefully)

Jesus did not go to the cross and ask God if all of us are worthy.  He did not think, "This is happening to me, and there are people who are going to let it go to waste."

How dare we think the same thoughts about a suffering human being.  Shame on us.  We live in a world in which generous people are scammed every day.  No one in this little "project" is being scammed, nor is anyone's money going to waste.  No one's money is wasted when, to quote my wise friend Amy again, "From the light of the candles to your prayer before we left, Jesus was in that room...when you're standing in a cold house with only candles burning, and four kids with their heads bowed hearing a stranger pray for them, you can't help but feel the presence of God."

I know that times are tight for many people, and I know that you are being hit at every possible moment to give, give, give.  At church, at work, at your kids' school, on the sidewalk, on the radio, on the news, in the paper, and now, here: online.  Maybe you work in an environment that is all about helping the needy.  I do not, so maybe this is God's way of putting someone in my path and in the path of others who don't regularly encounter the needy face-to-face, in the shadow of candle flames and amidst the fumes of a kerosene heater that Cynthia wasn't too sure how to work (scary, huh?).  But I'm asking you here, on an unofficial, unincorporated, unaffiliated personal blog to help this family, not because it's the season of giving, but because a family is cold and in the dark...BUT THEY'RE TOGETHER.  Please help me keep it that way.  Christmastime isn't all that relevant to them, with the exception of someone showing them the love of Christ.  I don't have a link to a paypal account, no fancy secure online giving site.  Just me.  So copy the url to this blog and email it out, to whomever will help get power back on and keep it on.  To give, email me at marybethyoung@hotmail.com, or send a guestbook message to me on my blog, right there on the left. 

PS - How does this relate to Emma?  How DOESN'T it?  I have grown up in a family that has given to the less fortunate in any and every way you can imagine.  I fully intend for Emma to learn the same lesson.  Some people would classify her as less fortunate.  In some ways, yes, she is.  But she will NOT grow up expecting a handout because of her disability.  She will learn to accept help when she needs it, but I'm going to do my best to ensure that my child gives more than she gets.  Although she did not understand why we had food in the car with us (even after several explanations), or why we were in this strange home with candles and she couldn't take her coat off, I pray that she will remember it one day and why we were doing it.