I Pray for the Light
Stories are beginning to emerge. Stories of needs being met, thankfulness growing in the heart of man, and the Lord being glorified.
It started with a decision. A commitment, really, to understand and to choose to assume the burdens of those in the community. Enter The Care Portal.
The Care Portal is a grassroots effort to engage, to connect, and to equip local churches to meet a range of child welfare needs. It represents a blanket opportunity to interact with those in want, to engage those who are in need of a spot of light in the darkness. Through The Care Portal, case workers from local social welfare agencies enter the needs into the portal, and an email is distributed to churches within that specific domain that are signed up to serve. The Care Portal provides the medium to connect the local church to the local individual in need. Needs range from finances for essential utility bills, requests for a bed or shoes or simply a coat for a child, and on and on and on.
Isaiah 58:10: …and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Recently, one such need was met. In its efforts to better identify how the local church can come alongside case workers and those in need, GO Project provides opportunities for case workers to provide feedback on how a need was addressed. Each time a need in The Care Portal is met, case workers will close a request so that other local churches in the area will focus their efforts on other needs.
As a reflection on the fulfillment of a need, a case worker from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services noted the promptness to which the church responded to the need. The case worker also shared the mother’s response:
“Thank you sooooo much! I’m so sorry I had to ask for help, but I knew I had to do something. I’m trying so hard and seem to hit more speed bumps the harder I try. I know there’s a light at the end of every tunnel and I pray for that light every day. Thank you again so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!”
She prays for a light.
Luke 5:16: In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
This aided mother’s response is powerful. It tells the story of a family in need who feels an enclosing darkness, for a prayer for light must denote the presence of its inverse. It shares the gratitude of a humble heart. It illustrates the freedom of a hope-filled life.
Isn’t this the very calling of the church? To be a light before men! For the light is enriched with love, joy, and hope, and no amount of darkness can produce what comes naturally in the light.
So we celebrate this response. We celebrate the church who shared the light, the case worker who saw the light, and the recipient who felt the light.
It’s not just a story: it’s a testimony. It’s a testimony about the light of the world.
Acts 13:47-8: 47For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” 48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord…