When my boys were very small, I took them and left an abusive husband who had beaten them horribly while I was away from home. Life was difficult as a single parent, but I had a job with a terrific boss, transportation, childcare and a support system and I knew I was one of the lucky ones. Still, there were times when I got so depressed and overwhelmed that I wondered if God remembered my name and our situation.

One day on the way to work, driving down a very narrow street, the double-axle trailer hooked behind a panel van jumped off the trailer hitch and began to hurtle toward my small compact car. I remember thinking maybe I could jump the curb and pull into a yard to get out of the way when I heard a very loud voice shout “NO!”

Against my better judgment, I continued to drive toward the trailer because there was no other place to go. The trailer suddenly turned, jumped the curb and traveled down the grass where I would have been had I jumped the curb. It passed me, turned back toward the street, bounced off the rear door of the car following me and came to a stop in front of the panel van that had been pulling it. No one was hurt. The baby in the back seat of the car traveling behind me didn’t even wake when the trailer popped the door.

I knew that morning that God not only knew my name, but He knew my situation and He had a plan for us. Several times over the next several years, I would drive to that spot and look at the one-inch gash that trailer put in the concrete when it jumped the curb. I put my finger in the gash and remembered that no matter how distant and disconnected I felt, I was never out of God’s tender care.

More than 25 years have passed since that Wednesday morning. My boys are grown and have families of their own. God saw us through many difficult times. He has never once left us or failed to provide what we needed most. I only drive to that spot in my memory now, for I know He is faithful.

Perhaps you feel disconnected, depressed, overwhelmed or lost. Maybe you feel God has abandoned you or that you have walked so far away that you can’t come back. God has not abandoned you and you can always make a u-turn and come back, just as the prodigal son did.

If you need someone to talk to and help you reconnect, we are ready and willing to listen, pray with you and help you find your way home. Won’t you give us a call and let us help?

Oftentimes it’s easy to find someone who will give you advice; someone who is willing to lend you their wisdom to “fix” you. It’s much harder to find someone who is willing to really listen to you.

Really listening to someone means not only hearing their words, but hearing the feeling behind the words. It means putting yourself in their shoes in such a way that you can understand something of what they are going through, so that, as the Apostle Paul tells us to do in Galatians, we can “Bear one another’s burdens…” (Gal. 6:2).

Most people feel at least a little uncomfortable when someone else thinks they can quickly understand our problem and fix us. Such an approach says to many that the other person thinks they are so smart and you are so dumb, that they can listen to you for two minutes and solve the problem you have been wrestling with for months, or even years! This is why many people resist going to a counselor. They don’t want someone to make them feel dumb.

While most of us don’t feel we need to have someone “fix” us, nearly all of us, at one time or another feel like we need someone with a listening ear. Someone who will not judge us. Someone who will not imply that we are dumb because we couldn’t figure out the answer to our own problem. Someone who will listen to us, call in the presence of God, and help us find the answers God wants to give us.

If this is your situation, why not call the Bless Me Network? We have many listening ears, and we are eager to call in God’s guidance as we work through your issues together.

Ever walk through a situation that felt so depressing and hopeless you felt like it was the Valley of the Shadow of Death talked about in the 23rd Psalm? I have, and many I have counseled with have. It’s not a pleasant place to be.
But, there is good news!! “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for [God is] with me.” This reminds me that difficult times come but I need to keep on walking; don’t camp out here! It also reminds me I am not alone on this journey!
If you feel alone or like you are camping in the Valley of the Shadow, call the Bless Me Network for help and hope. Pack up that tent and get to walking!