“Acres of Hope has helped me in more ways than I could ever express, or explain. Aside from this being the very first place my son has ever called home, it is changing our lives. At Acres of Hope my son experienced having a bed for the very first time in his 4 years of life. I have gained a deep and meaningful relationship with the Lord here. I’ve learned how to be a mother to my children. I now know how to connect and bond with them in ways I never knew before. I’ve grown so much mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I have developed a new found confidence I have never had before. I have learned how to be confident, self sufficient, and healthy as a mother. Being at Acres has made me want to change my whole life to become stable and good. I have been able to change from the inside out. It’s an experience I hope more mothers who come from where I have come from get to experience. It is the staff, volunteers, and mentors, that show us we can do anything. They help us to move the mountains that have held us back.“
A Mother of Hope
The words you just read were the thoughts of one of our mothers at Acres of Hope. As I sit writing to you, I am in tears. I remember the fear this mother and child duo faced when they arrived to the Acres of Hope campus. I remember the look in her little boy’s eyes as he tried to protect his mother from anyone getting too close to her. What would make a little boy feel the need to stand in front of his mother to protect her? We can only imagine. Yet over this last year I have watched this family grow. I have watched as trust has been built. This mother who would sit on the couch weeping because she didn’t have parents to show her the way, or protect her. Yet now it was time to rise up and be a strong parent for her son, and she didn’t know how to be that type of person. Her journey began with a lot of tears, because though she was learning to be a strong parent for her child, she also was facing the triggers of what not having that in her own life produced. The very thing that was healing her, was pulling back the bandages of wounds covered without true healing. So the wounds were opened, as she stood at the base of many mountains to climb. At Acres of Hope we climbed with her, until the day we were able to show her the tools she had at her disposal. Dispelling the falsehoods were like a sledge hammer to the rock. As the truth of her identity, value and worth poured forth, so did her ability to smash down any obstacle that stood in her way. She began moving those mountains. Healing those infected wounds of the past. Today she is not the same woman. We can say that for so many of our residents, and alumni of hope.
Today you have read the words of one of our mothers. She spoke from her own viewpoint, in her own voice, in her own words. I would like to ask you this Big Day of Giving, please help us move more mountains for mothers and their children ready to break their cycle of homelessness and the root issues that caused it. Let us allow the prayer of this resident to be brought to life. Your financial gift today will be a tool that allows them to know they can have a different life. A life filled with hope.
To help more mothers and children living at Acres of Hope move mountains, you can donate today for Big Day of Giving at the link below. We have a matching sponsor who will double your gifts for the first $15,000 donated.
https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/acresofhope
Thank you for moving mountains.
"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
Mark 11:23