Open the door.

When God provides in mysterious and miraculous ways.

A couple of weeks ago, I responded to a pretty simple CarePortal request. A young, single mom had lost her job during covid, and as a result her kids were taken into foster care. She‘d been working hard to secure housing and new employment and bring her little ones back home… She only needed beds. Her case worker had added that “it would be nice if she had a microwave and a window air-conditioning unit as well, but the kids can come home as soon as beds are provided“ so we made those beds our top priority. Within 24 hours, beds were set up in Miss J’s new apartment and her caseworker was closing her file. As we said our goodbyes she opened up and expressed a desire to give her kids more than a “bare minimum” home. She asked for prayer getting her Place together so it felt more cozy.

I was reminded of this sentence from the Apostle Paul in Colossians :

“Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ~Colossians 4:3

THIS was an open door, and I didn’t even know it. . We prayed and made a plan to shop together at New2You the following week. (If you don’t know about New2You.org it’s a thrift store that supports CarePortal. It’s a great place to donate and shop!).

You’ll never believe what happened when we got to New2You… they were closed! I had Made the mistake of showing up a 1/2 hour before they opened, and I didn’t want to waste Miss J’s time. THIS closed door was an OPEN door, I just didn’t know it! I quickly pivoted to the designated CarePortal Storage area at Peoples Church next door. I called the Pastor Derek and asked him to let us in, so we could get blankets and diapers and whatever else we could offer. When he OPENED THE DOOR, just inside, practically in the doorway was a brand new AC unit, still in the box…. With a brand new microwave, still in the box, stacked on top of it! We were thrilled! By the time we had loaded the car, New2You was open and those beautiful people added some cute dishes, pots, pans, pillows and curtains to her blessing. The ride back to her apartment was full of giddy talk about how loving everyone had been, how much fun we’d had and how much God LOVES Miss J! She was ready to hear that message… we just needed to OPEN THE DOOR so she could be blessed.

If you’d like to find ways to connect with families in your area go to https://www.careportal.org/open-requests/ And search your county.

If you have items you are no longer using … that you think might benefit a family like the ones we serve, Please consider donating items to New2You so they can continue to be a blessing on our community!

And please pray that God will open doors for each of us share the good news of God’s love and experience the mysterious ways in which he provides for his children