Valerie successfully completed the First Touch journey, graduating the program today, August 23, 2009, and will be leaving Hope House in the next couple of months to pursue her dreams and the prosperity God has promised her. We are very proud of her accomplishments and know that she will be forever an important part of this ministry. Her testimony is truly a gift from God.
Kathleen starts a new job on Tuesday of this week and we thank Valerie for her part in securing that job. We look forward to a year from now, when Kathleen can join Valerie, with a powerful testimony that will change lives.
On July 27, 2009 one of Passion Flower Productions, Inc.’s, covenant churches, Calvary Baptist, welcomed the fourth woman coming out of the Florida prison system into the First Touch Ministry. This ministry has been created to assist female inmates that have paid their debt to society and are transitioning from prison to freedom.
Kathleen will be residing at Hope House on the grounds of Calvary Baptist Church for the next 10-12 months while she transitions back into the community as a contributing member. She plans to attend church and life groups, sing in the choir and serve others through the many ministries that Calvary offers. Through these transforming events that will mold her life, we trust that the lasting changes will affect not only Kathleen, but her children, as well.
Kathleen’s team, lead by Brenda Kennedy, will provide a strong Christian family to support, advise, and guide Kathleen as she learns to live in healthy freedom, surrounded by a group of believers who will be there to provide wise counsel and celebrate the victories that she can achieve by living according to the examples that Christ has provided to all. One of her team members, Valerie, is getting ready for a successful graduation from the ministry; and who better to help her navigate the barriers that life will present along the way.
Please pray for Kathleen, her team, their families and the churches that support this ministry.
It was July 23rd, the evening before our first annual Passion Flower Garage Sale. As I am filling out a couple of those bright yellow Garage Sale signs to use the next morning, I get this inspiration, and above the big bold words “Garage Sale”, I write three words with my black sharpee to transform the sign to say “God’s Having A Garage Sale”. I know that no one will probably be able to see those words driving down McMullen Booth road, but I didn’t care because I knew God saw it and knew the universe saw His banner as well. I had to smile while I thought back on all that had led up to this weekend...
We have been preparing for Kathleen’s release date from Hernando CI to come into our First Touch Ministry on July 27. Being the fourth woman in our program, Barb and I learned that we needed to raise some funds for this next year so we asked God’s blessings on our efforts as we decided that we would do our first annual fundraiser—the Passion Flower Garage Sale for First Touch.
What God did next was amazing.
Through our friends and family, Board of Directors, First Touch team members and Calvary Baptist (the church that adopted Kathleen), He kept bringing us things. First it was a pair of twin bed frames. Then a dresser. Not just a cloth recliner, but a beautiful leatherette one as well. A sofa from one donor went perfectly with a coffee table from another donor. Some linens and pretty dishes. And then—as only God does—He multiplied those donations at every level.
He brought us more linens. Then He brought beautiful wall art, along with gorgeous wrought iron and other home décor items. Purses (there was a Coach purse and a Brighton among others), along with backpacks and luggage. A tent full of clothes and shoes. A karaoke machine. Two computers with flat screen monitors. Two fish tanks along with a water purifier. Lots and lots of books, games and toys. Electronics. Kitchenware. Yard tools. God had provided something for everyone.
Now the enemy was getting ticked because God had made it very clear in His abundant gifts for the garage sale that He was blessing our ministry. We knew attacks would be coming…we didn’t know when or what it would be, but knew we would recognize it when it happened, and we did. Five days away from the garage sale, my partner Barb, who was hosting the garage sale, pulled her back and was unable to lift anything. Four days away from the big day, Barb’s husband, Ron, was rushed to the emergency room and was hospitalized for a few days—another huge setback as he was preparing for major heart surgery at Vanderbilt the following week.
We kept going, knowing that if this truly was God’s garage sale, then we just had to stay faithful, do our part and surrender the rest to Him.
God blessed us for our faithfulness worked in divine monumental ways:
- He sent us over 30 volunteers to work more than 18 hours over the 2-day garage sale.
- He provided only sunshine for His garage sale, and we knew He did that because as soon as the garage sale was over, our friend Steve looked on his weather tracker and saw a storm brewing. It rained and rained and rained all the next day. Not just in sprinkles. Buckets of rain came down. I kid you not. Coincidence? No way.
- He sent hundreds of people to our garage sale, from 1 ad in the Flyer, and 8 yard signs. And they gave His ministry $2700.
I have been in a state of awe and amazement over God’s goodness. Because not only did He bless our ministry abundantly, He also had plans to bless other ministries outside of Passion Flower through His garage sale:
- Over 8 boxes of clothes and at least a dozen backpacks went to help the homeless in Tarpon Springs
- Over 8 boxes of books were donated to the Safety Harbor Library
- A truck-full of various items were given to an upcoming fundraiser for a mission team to Guatemala
- Several items were donated to the Homeless Emergency Project, a ministry that we partner with in First Touch.
With all of this going on, He took care of Ron and Barb. They were able to fly to Vanderbilt as scheduled, Ron’s surgery was very successful and they are waiting for him to recover and get strong enough to fly home.
Two days later, Kathleen’s team picked her up from Hernando CI to begin living out God’s plan of freedom for her life. The heat exhaustion from the weekend quickly dissipated as I sat at dinner with Kathleen and her team which now includes Valerie, our first graduate-to-be from First Touch. I marvel at all that He is doing and feel grateful. God is so vibrant and very much at work in our world. To just look around and see where He is at work with eyes wide open, to join Him, and to wait with childlike-Christmas-morning-anticipation-and-excitement to see what He’s going to do next has been the biggest blessing. I am a witness to tell you that if you only let Him, He will knock your socks off.