Grace's House of Hope: A Year in Review
With much excitement for all God had in store to help families, we opened Grace’s House of Hope in October 2017. This new Family Care home in Mobile is able to serve up to seven families at one time. Single moms come to us without a home for a variety of reasons, but each of them are seeking stability and hope for their futures. Rachel Burden, who serves as the House Manager for this home, says she has seen God work in the lives of 14 moms and 20 children this year!
Rachel formerly served in our Mobile office as the assistant to Pathways Professional Counseling. When asked what moved her to support Family Care in such an important way, she said, “I just love it—I love the moms. My heart goes out to them. When you hear their stories, you want to get involved with them and help them move to the next level. They come here with nothing, and when they leave, they have something.”
Grace's House of Hope in Mobile
In Family Care, moms are given the chance of a fresh start in many areas of life—finances, education, home stability, childcare, and job and career opportunities. Our hope is to show them that they not only have the opportunity to receive a fresh start in their physical lives, but in their spiritual lives too. They have the chance, if they haven’t already, to experience true heart-change through the power of Christ. And once they’ve experienced salvation, they can rely on Christ in their day-to-day decisions.
Rachel shares how encouraging it is to see them take those next steps in their faith journey. Some are building on a foundation already laid, and some are starting anew. Two of our moms stand out in her mind, and she shares how they have each gotten really involved in church and how their faith in Christ has grown over the past year. “You can see a light in them. It’s amazing,” she adds.
Inside one of our Family Care apartments
Rachel says she’s also seen the community really get involved over the past year with Family Care to help our moms. Through sponsorships, we’ve been able to gift three cars to lift the burden of finding transportation, and have provided four scholarships for financial help classes held in the home this year.
A fresh start is offered to all of us each day in light of God’s new mercies. We hope to emulate this hope in a practical way for single mothers and their children who are fleeing crises and seeking safe refuge through our Family Care program. God is working every day through this ministry and we are excited to be a part of it. If you’d like to join us in this work, there are a few ways you can jump in today:
PRAY // Prayer is a vital part of what we do. We need God’s power and presence every day as we do this ministry work! Our families also need prayer as they’re navigating this season of growth. If you’d like to support us in this way, we’d love for you to consider becoming a monthly Prayer Partner.
NEEDS LIST // We have a needs list for each area where we have Family Care homes (Birmingham and Mobile), which you can access on our Needs List page.
GIVE // If you would like to share your financial resources so that we may help our families as special needs arise, please feel free to do so here! Simply fill out the form as directed, and select “Birmingham programs” or “Mobile programs” and let us know in the comments you’d like to support Family Care. You could also support Family Care through the Hero Society monthly giving program.
Read more about God’s work in the lives of two moms in our Mobile Family Care home.
Visit us here for more information about Family Care.