Mrs. Stewart
Mrs Stewart came to us in the spring of 2008 requesting help with home repair. She had a hole in her bathroom floor that was preventing her from using the bathroom. We interviewed her and assessed her needs. We realized that she was in an unsafe living arrangement. There was an infestation of roaches and rats, as well as extreme filth in the home. We would only be able to help her if she was willing to help herself along side of us to completion of all her needs.
She agreed to allow us in to her house on a limited basis. At this time Mrs Stewart was a very angry person who really didn't want us there, but needed help to get the bathroom fixed. We began with the help of a team of teens who wanted to serve in the community by cleaning out her house. Over the course of the first week there was a lot of tension and on one occasion we were thrown out of the house as Mrs Stewart had a temporary change of mind. We just continued to show her love. Slowly and (three dumpsters later) we began to see a difference in the countenance of Mrs Stewart and on about day five we had a breakthrough with her. She stopped resisting our efforts to help restore her home to a livable situation.
From there we began to see a difference in her. She started to communicate with the workers, instead of them praying for her, she asked them could she pray for them, this was huge. Also instead of her watching them work she began to work along side of them. One day something very significant happened, She smiled. As each day went on over the summer we saw more of Mrs.Stewart come out. We began to see smiles, hugs, and one day flowers we found her out planting flowers. She began to interact with her neighbors, she started to share a lot of her possessions with them, people wanted to know what was going on with Mrs Stewart and she was more than happy to tell them. As we saw more of her come out we realized that there was a long history of service and work before she had a bout with cancer. Her identity changed, it became marred to the opposite of what it was originally. At one time she told me she was the community outreach coordinator for her church and they used to feed 900 people a year!! This was amazing because when we met her there was no sign of this person.
After a few more weeks the workers no longer needed masks to be in her home, Mrs. Stewart says “You all have given me my life back. I have never seen Christians behave this way”. Then she says: “I want to help y'all do for others what you did for me”. BINGO. Now Mrs Stewart has agreed to be our first Ambassador of HOPE for her Street. She wants to take her street back and infect her community with positive changes. We are still walking with her and her husband. The last time I saw her I noticed she had gotten another car. I asked her what she needed another car for, her husband was sick and retired and they had the one car that they both used. Neither used it much. She told me (very matter of factly) she was a missionary too!!! She needed her own car to do her missionary work, Unbelievable! So she has made herself available to us as a volunteer, she actually just agreed to help us by impacting the lives of the young mothers through a once a month gathering that is about to launch in the community. This is a very short account of our dealings with Mrs Stewart, but it has been a pleasure to see her life change and now as a result we are anxious to give her the support she needs and cheer her on as she leads the charge transforming her community.
She agreed to allow us in to her house on a limited basis. At this time Mrs Stewart was a very angry person who really didn't want us there, but needed help to get the bathroom fixed. We began with the help of a team of teens who wanted to serve in the community by cleaning out her house. Over the course of the first week there was a lot of tension and on one occasion we were thrown out of the house as Mrs Stewart had a temporary change of mind. We just continued to show her love. Slowly and (three dumpsters later) we began to see a difference in the countenance of Mrs Stewart and on about day five we had a breakthrough with her. She stopped resisting our efforts to help restore her home to a livable situation.
From there we began to see a difference in her. She started to communicate with the workers, instead of them praying for her, she asked them could she pray for them, this was huge. Also instead of her watching them work she began to work along side of them. One day something very significant happened, She smiled. As each day went on over the summer we saw more of Mrs.Stewart come out. We began to see smiles, hugs, and one day flowers we found her out planting flowers. She began to interact with her neighbors, she started to share a lot of her possessions with them, people wanted to know what was going on with Mrs Stewart and she was more than happy to tell them. As we saw more of her come out we realized that there was a long history of service and work before she had a bout with cancer. Her identity changed, it became marred to the opposite of what it was originally. At one time she told me she was the community outreach coordinator for her church and they used to feed 900 people a year!! This was amazing because when we met her there was no sign of this person.
After a few more weeks the workers no longer needed masks to be in her home, Mrs. Stewart says “You all have given me my life back. I have never seen Christians behave this way”. Then she says: “I want to help y'all do for others what you did for me”. BINGO. Now Mrs Stewart has agreed to be our first Ambassador of HOPE for her Street. She wants to take her street back and infect her community with positive changes. We are still walking with her and her husband. The last time I saw her I noticed she had gotten another car. I asked her what she needed another car for, her husband was sick and retired and they had the one car that they both used. Neither used it much. She told me (very matter of factly) she was a missionary too!!! She needed her own car to do her missionary work, Unbelievable! So she has made herself available to us as a volunteer, she actually just agreed to help us by impacting the lives of the young mothers through a once a month gathering that is about to launch in the community. This is a very short account of our dealings with Mrs Stewart, but it has been a pleasure to see her life change and now as a result we are anxious to give her the support she needs and cheer her on as she leads the charge transforming her community.
Travis C Upton
For more information on Hope for the Inner City click here for their website.