life's lows

My friend I told you about a few weeks ago, remember the one with the drinking problem and the upcoming courtdate? Well, I went with her to her court date. I was with her while she waiting, taking bathroom breaks to sneak some alcohol... I was there when she was sentenced to a treatment program - to be completed by her trial date in October. I rejoiced with her that she wasn't facing jail time...
And then I was with her the next day, as she sat, drunk, in the noon-prayer service which I was leading...
Then, I didn't see her... for days. I prayed, and I waiting anxiously for a sign of her. Hearing about how she had been drinking again, worrying that her sentence of a treatment program wouldn't be fulfilled.
Well, she was picked up, arrested, and is currently in jail. She sent us a letter at the church, and I think she has woken up. She's pretty low right now, and she can't indulge her addiction, there. But she's not trying to get out... she's trying to get through a treatment program there.
At her low though, she wrote to her church... at her low she knows God is there.

Last week I sat with my host-mom at the church comforting a friend. We have a friend at Rising Hope who "gots our backs." He doesn't usually enter the church. He's not a member, and he doesn't volunteer either. But he does run the corner of loiterers/drunkards outside, and they watch out for the church, they watch out for its staff, and "no matter how many times we call the cops on them,they still love us."
He's 55, and he has nothing in his life of value but that corner. No wife, no children, no job...
He came into the church distraught this day. He had had enough.
"I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm ready to go home." he repeated, as he wept.
"Life's hard. I'm tired. I want to go home. I'm going home to my Father tonight. He says he got a room for me. In my house there are many rooms... I'm going home."
We all three cried together. Our attempts at comfort were accepted, but he was certain that he was done with this world...
Then we prayed with him. He decided he wasn't going to go home tonight. He was going to keep on.
At life's low, he found God was there.

Another of my friends, the one I told you who said a couple weeks ago that it was her last day for crack cocaine? She's facing a courtdate, the possibility of penitentiary looming over her head. She is homeless, now. She is searching for a recovery program to complete, so she can show she is moving forward. It's harder and harder as each day approaches her courtdate.
But everyday she's at the church. Everyday she sits in noon-prayer service, actively participating, in praise and in petition. She holds onto her church family and her faith.
At her life's low, she knows God is there.

A new friend at church... a young woman with an 18 month old daughter has been coming. She is jobless, she doesn't have money for gas, shampoo, rent, baby wipes and diapers, food... Her family has left her because she is trying to make things work with her child's father. She feels abandoned and alone. She is searching for a job as she tries her best to deal with caring for her child, restoring a relationship, a lack of family support, and a failing financial situation... but she has come to church, not just for assistance, but for worship and prayer service.
At her life's lows, she is finding God there.

We all have our lows - some of them may seem petty to us, now... as we read of those whose lives have spiraled out of their control... but I hope you find, that at all your lows, God is there with you, eager to walk you through.

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..." Psalm 23:4