Prayer is the work

A story from the February Newsletter by Kayla

I have a confession. 

I believe that prayer is the work. I believe that Jesus was working on Colfax long before we got here, and we are just joining Him is what he is already doing. I was convicted going into 2024 that my calendar doesn’t always reflect those beliefs. Too often I problem solve first and pray second. Jesus has been inviting me to pray first and ask him for specific things, even things that seem impossible. 

People come in and out of our circle. They have a few weeks where they show up most times our doors are open and we see them in the same places during outreach and then they move in with a friend or disappear for other reasons. Sometimes the change is good and other times it’s not. This is a regular occurance, but when we do not see people for a couple weeks there is always a concern that something bad happened. There were a couple friends I was particularly nervous that I had not seen in a while. Partially because I know the hard details of their circumstances. 

My dear friend, whose name I won’t share, is usually a spark of joy. She is stunning, not just because of her big eyes, perfect skin, and great hair. All of that is true, but nothing compares to the beauty of her radiating optimism. She has been deceived, hurt, and used, and her faith in God and hope for herself and others remains. She calls me sister because being sisters in Christ is what she treasures most about our friendship. I call her sister back because she is right. 

She was struggling the last few weeks of 2023. She was “working the streets” more. (Her words, not mine) 

We offered her help that she wasn’t ready to take. 

The exhaustion was visible in her eyes. 

We can’t force people to change. They have to be ready. 

That is one of the hardest parts.

I hadn’t seen her in a couple weeks and I was concerned. I begged God for her to show back up, and I decided I was going to start calling around looking for her or her body at the end of the week if she didn’t show up. 

I was standing on the street inviting people into the Family Room when I saw a familiar figure across Colfax, walking down the sidewalk. I shouted her name and confetti might as well have come out of my mouth. 

She looked great! We started catching up and she told me how she found housing and no longer had to “work the streets”. We praised God together. 

This was the third time in the matter of three days that something like this happened. God got my attention reminding me that He is always the one changing lives, we just get to join Him in what He is doing.