(Photo courtesy of Family Christian)
USA (MNN) — God’s love can soften even the hardest of hearts. No matter how far one might stray, none can escape the reach of God’s arms.
That’s exactly what a group of Family Christian workers witnessed on its recent mission trip to the mountains of Georgia. The group worked at Goshen Valley, a foster care alternative home for abused and neglected boys.
“They specialize in taking in those hard-to-place foster care boys, and they bring them into a family environment where they have house parents, and it’s just very God-focused,” says Family Christian’s Bree Rostic. “They bring them in for learning and school, and to just give them that home environment that they might be missing in other in institutionalized foster care systems.”
Many of the group’s tasks included manual labor projects. But the main focus of the trip was much deeper.
(Photo courtesy of Family Christian)
“We helped them put up a pole barn, we painted and stained a deck, we cleaned up closets, we organized a lot of stuff for them,” says Rostic. “But the real focus was just to spend time with these boys, getting to know them and showing the love of Christ.”
The workers also witnessed the fruit that can result from performing God’s work. At its greatest, that can be a radical life change.
“There is one young man, he’s about 19 years old, and he was a devout atheist before he came to Goshen Valley,” Rostic explains. “[Goshen Valley] actually saw him online, and they contacted him and said, ‘We see that your parents died, that you’re up for adoption. But we have this option for you to come here to Goshen Valley.’ And so he hesitantly agreed, and he came down there.
“He just knows so much about God now. He’s playing the drums at his church, he’s getting tattoos removed off of his body and giving his life to Christ, and it was so beautiful to see.”
(Photo courtesy of Family Christian)
But the group didn’t just witness life transformation. Through kindness and Christlike interaction, they were able to impact lives and even be blessed themselves.
“We were able to be a bigger help than I thought. But the greatest impact was the impact that was on us,” Rostic says. “How much they loved us, how much they cared for us… And I really walked away with a sense of ‘God is moving down there through these people at Goshen Valley.’
“There are so many different scenarios. There are boys who have known Christ and are in full relationship with our Lord and Savior, and there are boys who have no idea who this Jesus is. And so our responsibility was to just come down there and be ourselves, and just show them the love of Christ. Hopefully that translates through what Goshen Valley is already displaying to these boys.
Want to give hope to children like these? One easy way to do that is just by shopping. Every penny spent at Family Christian stores goes to a faith-based charity.
For other volunteer opportunities with Family Christian, click here.
Remember also to pray. Pray for abused and neglected children around the world. Pray that through organizations like Family Christian, people would see the love of Christ and hear the Gospel.
