If someone was suffering and you had the power to change it, would you?
A lot of people would.
Here is the harder question.
If someone was suffering and they needed your time, would you give it?
Now you want to know more, right? It is one thing to hand someone $5 to buy lunch. But your time? That is the most valuable thing you offer.
At Severe Weather Shelter Network, we serve people in their coldest hour with resources, connections, and a safe, warm place to sleep. But more importantly, we understand truly showing someone love requires a sacrifice of time. This sacrifice is vital to see true change in another life and our own.
Investing your time into another person is the most rewarding way to spend it and yet it is often what we avoid doing. Why? Why this inner resistance to commit? What stops us from opening our calendars and our hearts to another person?
3 possible reasons may be holding you back…
- Humans resist change.
If you were very honest with yourself, you could look back at this past week and see a few precious hours here, there, and in between that you squandered away on things which carried little value to your self-growth. But these were part of your routine, things you are used to doing. Things you know.
It is human nature to resist changing our schedules because change means we are stepping into the unknown. Anything can happen in the unknown, lions and tigers and bears – oh my!
Allow me to shine light on what actually takes place in the unknown…
Change for the better.
New situations arise that push us to be stronger, to care more deeply, and to make a greater impact. Break out of your norm and take strides toward your potential. Time spent here is not wasted nor forgotten. You will make connections with people that you will remember for the rest of your life.
- You think we have it handled.
You figure it may be too late in the season to get plugged in. You see we already have a lot of volunteers and resources at our disposal. Your subconscious says, “Meh, they have made it this far without me.”
But you forgot that you are the only one of YOU in the entire world.
You have skills, talents, attributes, that are unique entirely to you. I promise you, you are needed, wanted, and sought after. You have a purpose and a destiny, and it is not limited to what you are doing from 9am-5pm. If you are ready to see a change in your routine, there is a place for your talents here.
- You truly have no time.
We are a busy culture and some of us make the mistake of saying ‘Yes’ until our plates are fuller than Thanksgiving at Grandma’s. I understand. It is not my intention to ever guilt anyone into becoming a part of something they have no time to commit to.
But there are ways you can still help us show love to these wonderful people.
- Pray for us, our guests, and our volunteers. (At the end of this article you will find a blessing I wrote for this season that you can agree with me on.)
- Consider donating monthly to help support our financial needs.
- Forward this message on to raise awareness.
If you have not participated in the Severe Weather Shelter Network yet, all I ask of you today is to seriously consider, “Why?” Why have you not taken the leap? What holds you back?
There are countless problems in this world. This is one has a practical solution that you can be a part of.
People were suffering with homelessness on freezing nights in this city. We have the power to help change it. Will you cast off your aversion to change? Will give your time and your talents?
Will you help us?
A prayer for the 2018-2019 Severe Weather Shelter Season –
God, You are endlessly faithful.
We declare this season to be one of solutions and abundance of energy. Thank you, Lord for blessing everyone involved with supernatural problem-solving skills and incredible energy to complete the work You have set us to do.
May the guests this season enter our locations joyfully knowing they will be shown love and respect. May they leave after a peaceful night of sleep with a sense of value and confidence restored. Remind them Lord, of their value to You and to us no matter the circumstances they find themselves in. And should they wish to see a change in those circumstances, we thank You, Lord, that You will bless them with the provision necessary.
Increase in this organization, Father. Increase in awareness, in support, in empathy, and above all, increase within us Your great love.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Written By Erinn Campton of Chain Breaker Limited