super super praise God from the Indy Homeless Connect today put on by CHIP Indy! wow! what a response! so many people stopped by the I AM... display and picked up a mirror with a word on it that challenged them. just to share some highlights....
so many of the guys picked up the one that said "i am handsome" and were like so confident in it. especially the older men were like "yeah! i AM handsome! so true". i love that. alot of people took "I am bold" and "I am loved" and "I am worth it". those are the major ones. as well as "I am joyful" and "I am strong". They are truly strong. Everyone in that room was strong for being there and continuing to keep on keeping on. So encouraging. But the "loved" ones were definitely big. People really loved those. One lady we got to talk to picked the "I AM loved" one and, when she started walking away, she started crying, and the best part is that, because of that, we got to give her a big group hug and remind her that she IS loved. She is. she just cried more and it was beautiful :) she is so loved.
People were so glad that they got to take one. we actually ran out of mirrors by noon and had to get some more (5 dozen more) and had all but 5 left by the time we were done at four. Praise God- he provides so well! The smaller mirrors were what really resonated with people. the big ones on display are cool, but when talking to homeless friends, its important to have something to GIVE them that they can take with them. (We gave them the mirrors as a reminder that they ARE all of those things... loved, beautiful, handsome, worth it, joyful, hopeful, strong, etc.) So when we hand out the CHIP handbooks when walking around, we should also give people one of the mirrors to go with it. It reminds me of the verse in Acts where it's like "silver and gold i do not have but what i have i give you." Paul says that to a crippled man outside the temple gates, and then he heals the man, and the man goes out praising God. we saw that so much today. spiritual, emotional healing. True, amazing, stories of life change and courage and glory to God.
And something that resonated with me was that there were so many different faces of homelessness and different faces between the homeless neighbors and volunteers who were there. From people in suits to people who needed new clothes, everyone just looked so diverse and beautiful. Homelessness doesn't just have one face. To be cliche, we can never judge a book by its cover. Never assume that someone is or isn't homeless or does or doesn't need help. You never know until you ask.
So. That is the beautiful rundown of my perspective on the Indy Homeless Connect today. It was beautifully blessed event with beautiful people who have amazing hearts. Everyone truly did.
If you were there and have any stories to share, please, please, please comment and post them... there are an unending amount of beautiful stories of restoration and love that I know need to be shared. Today was beautiful.
If you want more info on the I AM... art series that Ode brought to the Indy Homeless Connect event today, feel free to check out this link: http://odetotheforgotten.blogspot.com/p/i-am-art-series.html
To learn more about the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) Indianapolis, check out chipindy.org
Don't be hesitant to pray about it and then get involved where you're called. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Get plugged in!
And never forget...
YOU ARE
loved
beautiful
hopeful
handsome
strong
unique
bold
named
worth it
filled
joyful
valuable
and confident.
Whether you feel like it some days or not. You are... :)
b y Sarah Hensley
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