Favor Overdrive!

The ladies in my Winning Group are experiencing what I like to call Favor Overdrive! Their prayers are being answered right and left! I already shared about how the one lady got that incredible job last week. Well that same lady had some fines to pay that totaled about $500. She had been working really hard to earn the money but despite all her efforts she was $60 short the night before it was due. She called me that evening nearly hysterical. I did my best to calm her down and remind her of what the Word said and how God had been working in her life and that He loves her too much to let her fail now. By the time we got off the phone she was much better and we agreed that we would cast this care on God. She went to a NA meeting that night and 2 other recovering addicts blessed her with $20 each and when she got home there was a blank envelope on her pillow with another $20 in it! She called me hysterical again but only this time it was a different kind of hysteria!!! We celebrated and praised God together on the phone. After we hung up I just started crying...it is amazing to watch God work in others' lives. Then just yesterday another one of my lady's got her answer as well. Her sister had decided that she no longer wanted her to stay at her house and gave her a week to get out. She had nowhere else to go. Now normally she would have used something like this to relapse and start using again. But this time she made a decision to try Gods way and believe Him for her answer. It was not easy for her or me. She would call me everyday about to breakdown. She would say "Ms. Tomi its Monday, Ms. Tomi its Tuesday, Ms. Tomi its Wednesday" and each time I would encourage her to STAND. Well she called me yesterday to let me know that she held the keys to her new place in her hands. She had never felt anything like the high she was on at the moment. She told me no drug ever made her feel like that! We are moving her in to her new place tomorrow! As I share these testimonies with the other lady's they start to believe that it really can happen for them. They want to be the one calling me and telling me how God came through. It's almost like they are trying to out do each other, but not in a bad or negative way. It's more of a look at God working in my life type thing. I like to call it "Favor Overdrive"!!!!

A First for Me

Something really neat happened to me last week at the jail. One of the young ladies came up to me at the start of class and said she wanted to talk to me because she had something she wanted to ask me. So we sat down at the back of the room and she explained to me that they had watched a video in class that talked about Spiritual Parents and she wanted me to be her Spiritual Mother. She went on to talk about how her natural mom turned her back on her when she was young and how she never really had a mom after that. She now has two young kids and CPS is trying to take them away from her. I was kind of taken back by her request because that is the first time I've been asked to be someones spiritual parent. But, despite that, I said yes. She started crying because she was so happy that someone actually wanted to be a mom to her. Every since that day each time I see her in class she calls me 'mom' and each time I feel so honored. We talk about the things she is going to do after her release and the things she is going to be involved in. She asked if my being her 'mom' meant that I was her kids 'grandma'...I told her not to push her luck! We both laughed, but I can tell that she already feels better about herself now that she has someone in her life to look up to and loves her unconditionally. What an honor to be her Spiritual Mom!

Off to a Great Start

We started the new Winning Group semester on Tuesday and I just wanted to share that our Rebuilding Women group is off to a great start! I had 6 different women who were in my classes at the jail call and want to come to group, 5 of which needed rides. After many calls I finally secured rides for all 5. Three of the ladies had their schedules change at the last minute but we ended up having 3 first-time guests! It was a great meeting! We all had an awesome time with the lesson on The Favor of God! All 3 of our guests were believing for new jobs. We prayed and I encouraged all of them that when they go in for their interviews that they imagine themselves getting the job and to confess and believe that they had the favor of God on them. I'm happy to say that 2 of the ladies were hired on the spot and the third one is going back for a second interview next week!!! One of the ladies hired on the spot was going in for and interview for a factory position...but God is so good, listen to this - during her interview the lady conducting the interview was looking over her resume and noticed that she had some cleaning experience (little did she know that my lady's passion is cleaning and she hopes to one day own her own cleaning business). It turns out that the company's cleaning person quit 2 days before this interview and that they had a big need for someone new. They asked my lady if she would be interested in that position instead of in the factory. Her answer was of course YES!!! She was hired on the spot and her pay is TWICE what she would have been paid on the other job!!! She called me and she was sooooo excited, she couldn't wait to tell me how God moved in her interview. I look forward to sharing many many more testimonies just like this in the future as we come together and watch God rebuild these women's lives!!!!!

Keeping Me Busy

Wow...the ladies have really been keeping me busy lately! Don't get me wrong, I love it and I wouldn't change anything about it (except to have maybe one or two more of me)! Keeping busy with the ladies means that more and more of them are coming around and needing/wanting me to be a part of their lives. I have been able to take them to and from court appointments, to visits with their children, shopping, out to eat, to church and to and from work. I have even started picking up one of the ladies and taking her to the gym with me in the mornings. I just love having the opportunity to spend time, quality time fellowshipping with them and really building and deepening our relationships. I am so blessed to be a part of these women's lives! I thank God daily for calling me to something so wonderful!