God is Working in Andrews

Story submitted by Jackie Thatcher

One of our projects is to revamp the house of an elderly widow here inAndrews. The windows leak air real bad and it is in need of a total makeover on the outside, just to make it a little more airtight beforewinter hits. We are replacing most if not all of the windows, and replacing the asbestos shingles with siding for starters. I am not sure what all we are going to do after that, but our first priority is to get it ready for winter. The widow's name is Maria and the way we met her is really unique.

Two years ago, our life group took on several families to provide help for their Christmas. One of the families was a single mom by the name of Paula Montoya. Bob and Ruth Sears, Toni Franks and Margaret Porter chose toprovide Christmas help for this mom and her two children. Well, Christmas came and went and none of us had followed up on our families, but apparently God had some different things in mind because Toni began to have Paula on her heart and mentioned to Ruth that they should get in contact with her. They began praying for Paula and shared their intentions with our Lifegroup.

Within a couple of weeks after Toni began praying for Paula, Ruth received a letter from Paula. She asked that if there was anyway possible, could they help her family with Christmas again this year. Basically, without their help, her kids would not have a Christmas at all. As it turned out, Paula had tried to make some fast money and it landed her in jail. This left her mother to take care of her two little children. Not only did this family take care of their needs for Christmas, they checked on them often, making sure the kids had birthday presents etc. Then they brought her to the attention of our lifegroup. We began to write Paula while she was in jail and pray for her that God would do a work in her heart. When she got out of jail, the Sears' gave her a job and the lifegroup began to show her God's love.

When we started our "Better Together" campaign, we invited Paula to come and she did. It is so exciting to watch her grow in her relationship and dependency on God. We had our first work day at Paula's mom's house last Saturday and had a wonderful turnout. Not only that, but Paula's boyfriend was there helping and then he came to our lifegroup Sunday night. You just never know when, how or what God will use to bring people to him.