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If you know me (Lindsey) at all, you know I am not the best at 'being still'. A friend said this to me recently about a situation she was in and she had know idea what those words meant to me - "Be still and know that I am God".
Family Promise has been without families for about 4 weeks and it makes me to start to worry. Not that we aren't staying busy - there is plenty to do! I just start hearing those voices asking "why are we not full?". Those are the voices I know not to listen to but I hear them, and I start to get confused. Are these what I need to be hearing or not? I know we have done all we can to spread the word about our open spaces. From visiting other agencies, to visiting local motels, to keeping a log of calls, but no one seems to show up for their interview or to be desperate enough. I believe lots of this has to do with tax money, which happens each year. I do see Gods hand because, amidst all this, people are knocking our doors down with offers of service projects at our wonderful new Day Center. People are still wanting to help us even though we have no guests. It is just amazing to me the out pouring of support even though we have no families. I have to look at this as God still blessing Family Promise even though some days I am wondering if something is wrong. I could not even list all the opportunities that have opened up in these slow weeks from different groups wanting to help. For the past 4 weeks, we've been running our Saturday LIFE Classes and those have been going well for our past guests. We also have had several past guest coming back to do laundry and use computers. The final reminder of assurance from God was today when our first guest, possibly not the easiest guest, called me to check in. She was in the program in 2012 and I have kept up with Michelle and her family, who have had quite a road. She called to update me and to tell me she was coming to see me next week. I have not seen her since she completed drug rehab in my hometown probably 3 years ago. She tried a few weeks ago to surprise me only to find out we had moved. It moved me so much that this relationship between two of the most opposite people has lasted. We are friends in Christ and I will not forget the words she said to me so boldly - "Lindsey, I am still clean and I have been promoted to a better job at work!". So many of you played a part in her life and love to hear updates, so I wanted to share this too. Has it been smooth for her? Oh no way! Pretty far from that, but a relationship was formed that day in May of 2012 that she or I (or many of you) will not forget. I need to Be still and know that God is God and He is in control on these days when I want to be. I hope you have a wonderful week and we appreciate each one of you! Just wanted to open up and share my heart! Lindsey McCamy Executive Director Family Promise of Hall County
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Let’s have an honesty moment - deciding to move our entire operation to a new location over the Christmas holiday might have been the craziest thing Family Promise has ever done. In the past two weeks, we moved into our new office, graduated and moved a family of four into their new home, distributed Christmas to our families, and (by the grace of Jesus) found a moment to breathe and enjoy family around the holidays.
As I walk through our new facility, I’m overwhelmed by the possibilities this space possesses. Our new Day Center is a bundle of activity and paint and cleaning and unpacking. The staff wants to say a very sincere thank you to the handful of volunteers that have made this move possible. We know that many of you would have loved to help, but the holidays are a busy time. Don’t worry - we still have plenty of opportunities to get involved in the coming weeks and months. Curious how you can plug in?
* If you’re interested in any of these opportunities, call us at 770.535.0786 or email Lindsey McCamy at lindsey@familypromisehall.org. Anyone who has ever moved knows how incredibly stressful and exciting it can be all at once. We’re finally getting organized and appreciate everyone’s grace and patience with our suspended communication over the past few days. If you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to drop in and take a tour. We can’t wait for everyone to visit this space and see the amazing possibilities it holds. With warm regards, Amanda Ayers Program Manager, Family Promise For quite some time, we have been dreaming of a larger Day Center space that will better serve our families and staff. As the vision of Family Promise expands to include new programs and initiatives, our need for space has grown!
We're excited to announce that the Lord has blessed us with an amazing new space. Located at 1001 Riverside Drive, between Rick's Smokin' Pig and Zaxby's, it's close to two bus stops and is a GREAT location for us. Even better than that, we're tripling our space size! This means more storage space for families, more office space for our staff, and a little bit more room for our families to spread out. We think it will improve the quality of the families experience and enable us to host more classes, programs, and meetings on site. Another incredible feature of this property is the on-site basement storage that will be used for collecting furniture for graduating families. The ability to move this storage from our off-site location frees us up to receive donations throughout the week! By far the best part of this entire process is that the owners have agreed to keep our rent the SAME that we currently pay. This space is easily worth triple our current rent. We're amazed and appreciate these owners and their enormous generosity! We will begin moving piece by piece in the coming weeks. Our operations will officially switch to the new property on Monday January 4th. We will need all the help we can get packing and cleaning up. We hope to have more specific dates to share in the coming weeks. We realize this is a crazy time of year but maybe this will be a great project for you and your family to take part in this season. We'll post updates on Facebook pretty regularly. The best way to stay updated is to subscribe to our email updates (to the right). Thanks for all your support! Here's to an exciting new chapter for Family Promise. Many thanks, Lindsey, Laura, and Amanda The Family Promise Staff Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 I was reminded of this passage this week during my quiet time. This is so easy to do when life is going smooth but so hard to remember when things are not going that wonderful. It is hard to ALWAYS rejoice . I am going to be honest - last week was a hard week and I am not sure I practiced this. I had a dear friend diagnosed with cancer. She is a mom, a wife, a friend and a daughter to many and I was not rejoicing. I was mad and hurt and had lots of "why’s?". That was not all. We had many other things last week not go our way - a broken dryer, van trouble, a tree fell at Terrace Street house. Seems to always come at one time. This really put it into perspective for me how the families we serve must feel. Would I be rejoicing while homeless in a shelter with my family? Just really made me think about how my worst days do not compare to what they are experiencing. Also most of them have no family or friends to talk to or redirect them from that emotion. With all that said there were some wonderful things that happened and this is always a reminder to me God is there. Sometimes we just become so blinded it is hard to see. One of the wonderful things that always seems to happen is the generosity that amazes me within the Gainesville Community. When we have a need it is amazing how quickly that gets filled. The email last week that went out about Christmas sponsors for our families was filled immediately! We are still receiving calls from the groups and individuals that want to do Christmas! The Thanksgiving boxes, Christmas gifts and many Christmas dinners are currently covered. From Family Promise we wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! What a wonderful time to be so thankful and REJOICE for all we have! Lindsey McCamy Executive Director |
