"He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. "

Psalm 146:7-9 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

We know that God loves all people in the same way. Yet the special place in God’s heart for the poor and vulnerable is evident throughout the Bible (for example: Psalm 12:5, 140:12, 146:7-9, Isaiah 3:14-15, James 2:5). God’s compassion is most marked in tender care for the poor women and children: “You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry” (Exodus 22:22-23). God intervenes to uphold the cause of those who are impoverished and mistreated, as promised in 1 Samuel 2:8: “He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap.” At the time of this writing, we are preparing for our sleep out fundraiser for Bridge of Hope @ Christian Caring Center. We are about to graduate one mom and 2 children. We have 3 months of our 2nd mom and 4 children. We have just accepted a new mom with a new born. I personally am about to make settlement on a home on October 22nd and moving in on October 23rd. So we will be sleeping out on unpacked boxes and maybe a mattress on the floor. I have been on the journey of down sizing from a 4 bedroom, 1 acre home of 40 years for 7 years now. The past 2 months my husband and I have been on the hunt in a certain 55+ community (Leisuretowne) that we believed God had for us. There were always 20-30 homes for sale every month for the last 7 years, but not in 2020. There were fewer and fewer homes on the market and we were under contract. We made 5 offers and got out bid and lost. When we were 5 weeks away from settlement and no where to go, my son Harry offered to let us stay with him in his tiny apartment. He was going to give us the bedroom and sleep on the couch-bless his heart. So we said ok. We started making preparations to store our belongings in storage and started packing. And just like that God gave us a miracle. He gave us the house of our dreams and we could close on the same day of our current house! We just spent an hour doing our inspection and dreaming. I can’t help but feel that this is somewhat of what our people are going through, especially our homeless single mom’s. Not knowing where they are going “Love the Lord God your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” This virtual sleep out is so special to me. It’s such a wonderful way to social distance and teach your children how to put their love and care for the poor into action. You can have you, your family, your children and grandchildren have a sleep over. You can make a fort in the living room, sleep in your car, sleep in a tent in your back yard, etc. If you miss the date it’s not ever too late. We are committing to our new family for a year so through out the year you can plan your sleep out and get sponsors and mail in your donations or Pay Pal on our website. As special as these 3 families are, you are so special too. Your chose to partner and support the families of the Christian Caring Center and each of you are special and loved by the Lord and the Christian Caring Center for partnering with us to spread the Gospel through love! We count it a high honor to have you choose the Christian Caring Center with all the wonderful ministries out there to support. So on behalf of all the clients who we serve-THANK YOU!!

Abiding in Him,

Madelyn Sutton, Executive Director