Summer 2018 Applying Biblical Truths To Women’s Lives
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Leigh Littrell Founder Skip Thompson Chairman Laura Hellard Treasurer Ruth Ann Fite Secretary Dr. Richard Bedsole Libby Brown Jack Fite Joe Lubisco John Underwood Leadership Team Leigh Littrell Susan Brooks Libby Brown Margaret Fudge Resident Managers Carol Atchley Jackie Harris
IN THIS ISSUE... COVER Leigh’s Message \ \
PAGE 2 Season 3 for Shelly PAGE 3 More Resident News PAGE 4 Mother's Day Event PAGE 5 Jail Ministry THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
When Refuge of Grace began over eight years ago, I had no idea what the Lord had planned. I, including the ladies going inside the Morgan County Jail to teach classes, knew was that there were single moms who had been shown the love and hope of living a new life in Christ. But, when their sentence was over, the only place they had to go was back to the darkness that brought them to jail in the first place. That’s when the Lord placed it on our hearts to create a home where these women could actually experience His love, grace, and forgiveness in tangible ways from the body of Christ while learning to live life through the lens of a biblical worldview.
Since the beginning, we have often been asked and struggled with the question ”What is your success rate?” or “How do you measure success?”. The most obvious answer is the we are being faithful to what God has called us to do which is to share the gospel, cultivate seeds, and He will ultimately bring the harvest. But more tangible ways in which we measure success is how are the women and children we are serving triumphing through adversity.
“No faith is so precious as that which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials. And you would never have known God’s strength had His strength not been needed to carry you through.”
-Charles Spurgeon
What are some of the ways in which we measure success or witness triumphing through adversity? It is
•watching several women study for and receive their GED’s when they dropped out of school and were told they were “never going to amount to anything”;
•seeing a young mother read bedtime stories to her young daughters whom she had gained custody while in the program;
•celebrating with a resident whose driver's license were reinstated after driving for years without one;
•watching a mom continuing to smile while speaking to her three sons on the phone and hearing her own father in the background yelling ito her children what a worthless mother she is and she will never amount to anything; (by the way, the Lord has mended her relationship with her sons and her father);
•celebrating with a resident who received her GED and a new full time office job all in the same week only to witness as she received a phone call that her middle child was being admitted into UAB Children's Psch Unit and that she couldn’t speak to him or see him;
•watching as a resident is diagnosed with a life-altering, incurable disease and face it through the hope of Jesus;
•watching the gospel of Jesus Christ reach four generations through one resident;
•celebrating when residents secure employment and are able to pay off all of their court costs and fines;
•witnessing a judge dismiss resident's court costs because of the obvious changes they have made through the empowering of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of Refuge of Grace; and
•TRULY WATCHING GOD WORK MIRACLE AFTER MIRACLE IN THE LIVES OF THE WOMEN DAY IN AND DAY OUT!!!
Refuge of Grace has served approximately 595 women in the Morgan County Jail and 57 women and children over the last seven years. And, of course, with serving this many people comes growth and change. We have learned much over this time through not only successes, but also through mistakes we have made along the way. As many of you know and have been praying for us, we have just returned from a very productive strategic planning retreat and look forward in the coming weeks and months sharing with you what the Lord has placed upon our hearts to grow the ministry to the next level serving more women and their children as well as enlarging our staff. Please continue to pray that we remain faithful to His calling!
Leigh