Canceled Debt

About a month ago, a supporter of The GreenHouse told me that she and her husband wanted to give a financial gift to a family in need and they wondered if there was anyone in our community that might need assistance paying rent.  They had heard about the high number of families who have recently moved out of the apartments due to unemployment/inability to pay rent and wondered if they could perhaps provide a safety net for a family in danger of being evicted.  

This was the first time anyone had ever approached me about giving directly to a family so it was new territory for me.  I told her that I was fairly certain I could find such a family, but that I would need to do a little research and get back to her. 

In the meantime, a second supporter of The GreenHouse, independent of the first one, approached me with the same idea.  This couple also wanted to help out a family with a financial gift at Christmas time.  I couldn't help but chuckle because I knew that God was up to something.  I told the second donor that I was already planning to find a family that needed help with rent and asked her if she and her husband would be interested in combining their gift with the other donors' gift to be a blessing to one family.  She agreed and that began my quest to make a match between the two donors and a family in need.

In the process of finding that match, there were starts and stops.  I'm so thankful for the stops!  It's as if God was guiding my footsteps- so gently, but so clearly - and leading me to the person that He wanted to receive these gifts.  He closed the doors that needed to be closed and opened the ones that needed to be open. 

The week after Christmas, when I finally had a chance to talk to the manager of the apartment complex, the person who was to receive the gifts was clearly revealed: a single mother of four children who this past year finally had the courage to separate from her husband after 18 long years of abuse.  Not long after leaving her husband, she was injured in a car accident.   And while she had been able to work off and on since the accident, her minimum wage job made it very difficult for her to afford her rent on her own.  For the last few months of 2009, she had only been able to pay partial rent and now had a balance of $1064 in delinquent rent.  A notification of eviction had already been delivered. 

What a tremendous gift it was for me to visit her and tell her that some generous people wanted to help her wipe out her debt!  And, what a miracle it was that the amount given by the two donors (in a check written to the apartment complex), was in the amount of $1160, almost exactly the amount that she owed (with $96 to be carried over for February!). 

As I shared the news of the financial gift that was coming her way, I told her that the gift reminded me of Jesus.  He wipes out the "debt" of our sin.  He cancels the whole thing.  It's gone!  He gives us a fresh start.  And, it's not because of anything that we've done.  It's a free gift.

This deserving and worthy mom's debt was canceled - it's gone!  She gets a fresh start.  What a practical and tangible way for her to hear, understand, and experience the gospel.  What a blessing for the donors to be able to be used in such a way.  And what an honor for me to have a front row seat in the process.