Who and What are We?
Posted on Saturday, June 6, 2009 by oneP3
Who and What are we?
By: Miriam and Katie
Over three years ago we found our lives turned upside down. Suddenly, we were single moms, suffering the damage of abuse, adultery and abandonment. While we were overwhelmed in our grief, God was preparing us for each other and ultimately a ministry to reach out to women in similar situations as us. We saw despair. God saw hope. We saw destruction. God saw creation. We saw brokenness. God saw holiness. On a hot, monotonous drive to Indiana with a toddler and two babies in the back seat, God birthed the idea of oneP3 in us. We were struggling to know how to respond in a godly way to our wayward husbands, we were praying for reconciliation. We were musing about how to recover financially and how to survive the devastatingly lonely nights. We knew God was calling us to a gentle and quiet spirit, to win others over to Him. We started the website. We mused. We uncovered the tarnished story of our lives for the world (or no one) to see. We didn’t know. We heard back from women in similar situations. We heard from their sons. We heard from husbands. Suddenly, this was bigger than us.
Fast forward three years, our marriages were not reconciled. God wrote a different ending to our stories. The burning ember that He ignited in that steamy van bound for Indiana had burst into a flame. We knew that when God said that He has given us a future and a hope in Jeremiah 29:11, He was talking to the single moms too! We believed that He came to heal the broken-hearted and set the captives free (Isaiah 61:1). We both had a church family, but we began to notice that single moms often slipped through the cracks. The churches were busy helping the more obvious down and out, not single moms and their kids. We fell through the cracks. We knew we were called to make sure others didn’t. God impressed on us the importance of the 21st century widows and children, the abandoned and abused. We, as the Body of Christ are called to look after the widows and orphans (James 1:27). We have a passion to educate the Church on these issues, specifically domestic violence so that the Body of Christ fulfills its’ calling.
So many single moms told us they were sick of being alone, exhausted, devastated. We knew. We felt that too. So we started a support group called SOBA (Sick Of Being Alone). We launched it in Grand Rapids, MI and recently had another group in West Lafayette, IN. We hoped these meetings would give single moms and women going through abuse and abandonment a place to relax, to talk confidentially with other sojourners, to see life and be reminded of our Savior who is continually carrying out His ministry of healing and redemption. Women responded and appreciated this ministry.
We aren’t sure where God is leading this ministry, but we heard His voice and we answered the call. 2 Corinthians 1:4 reminds us that God comforts us in our troubles so that “we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God…” In short, that is our mission. He tells us the avenues and provides the means and we give of our time and talents. And little by little, He is giving beauty for ashes, the oil of Joy for mourning, a garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness (lsaiah 61:3), to us, and through us, to others. Praise the LORD.