Little things.....

I love my job so much! You are all probably tired of hearing me say that I have the best job in the world, but it is true. Even when we are crazy busy and ramped up for the holidays; when my stress level is on maximum overdrive—I love this job. Today God reached down to show me, once again, what Hope House means to people, and how little it takes to change someone’s life.

In the midst of the Christmas carols playing, the tree in the corner and the bustle of the end of the week, God showed us the way.

There once was a girl……..who drove us all crazy with her quirky, and often demanding, personality. She had decided over the last weeks to focus her passive aggression on me—to the point of driving me nuts! Which I kind of think is what she was trying for? Every visit (and there were many!) turned into a tug of war over what she could and couldn’t do/get. She pushed, I stood firm, she pushed again, I got irritated and she won. What was consistent in her requests was the need for a phone. Homeless, not welcome in many places and often alone, she wanted a phone more than anything.

Last time she was in, I tried being overly solicitous and helpful and she left in a good mood with a minimum of trouble. Today, I was on intake duty when she appeared. As she sat there looking despondent and wondering how she could get a phone, the Holy Spirit said to me “give her a phone”. Knowing that our Assumption Financial Assistance people had given out almost no money today, I approached them with the idea of calling Fred Meyers and seeing how much it would cost.

Long story short, it was reasonable and Fred’s takes our vouchers, so we broke our rule about no phone help and wrote out a voucher for a phone from Freds. You could hear her crying all through the building. She was so touched and so happy and promised to call her mom as soon as she had the phone in hand.

We’re hoping a call to mom will lead her home……in more ways than one!