If you didn’t know, ESL is out for the summer and our director has stepped back to only doing Clothing Bank since she recently began taking care of her aging parents.
Our new ESL Director, Sharalynn, has come up from within and has hit the ground running, seeking English speaking teachers and childcare volunteers to come along side students a few hours, once a week.
Yet her heart is a light in this neighborhood. Her ministry this summer is to visit each of the students at home and get to know the students’ family dynamics and any obstacles there may be to learning.
As we prayed together, yesterday, she is amazed at all Christ is revealing. There is a bright and cheery student that has worked hard in her classes with us over the last year. In her 3 bedroom apartment is her teenage son, her husband’s parents, and his 105 year old grandmother. The grandmother cannot interact from her hospital bed but swings from quiet groaning to listening stillness. The teen is laying on the couch with his smart phone, barely up from sleeping in this afternoon.
Our student says they are her 2 babies.
In her culture, when she married, she left behind her family and took on her husband’s to care for and nurture. She does not know the fate of her own.
Her husband has been in Ohio for awhile, looking for work. He has recently found something to support them all and will be bringing the family there this summer.
Though we do not share the same culture, language, or faith, we have been able to walk beside this woman and show her Christ’s love. Do not pity her or weep for her. She feels her sorrows are not greater than our own.
She chooses to look for the good, spread her smile liberally, seeking to learn the language and customs of the U.S. so that she may take great care of her husband and family.
As I lift Sharalynn and our refugee community up in prayer, and think of how so many have come over the last few years. I’m not so sure God isn’t willing us to see how much their love and sacrifice for family is something a materialistic society has lost.
Christ, let Your will and love reign as You seek to find all Your lost lambs.
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