One of Those
I was standing outside the office building at the Buckner’s Children’s Home Campus when I began a 
conversation with a young lady, a resident in our Family Pathways Program*. Her car wouldn’t start, and she was patiently waiting for a friend to come and help her.
Our conversation went from discussing car troubles to raising children to cooking dinner for our families. I shared my trick of cooking many meals on the weekends to freeze and then serving them to my family during the week. I said, “As a single mom of four, I need every trick available to take care of my family during the week.”
She looked at me and said, “You are a single mom?” I said, “Yes.” She then said to me, “I thought that you were one of those people.” What did she mean by one of those?
That phrase has stuck with me. How often do we put people into categories? Those who have and those who have not? Those who need help and those who do not?
First Corinthians 4:6b-7 says, “Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive?”
Through my journey as a single mom, God has taught me many lessons that I may not have learned if I was living in other circumstances. We are all the same in God’s eyes. His love for us is not measured by our work titles, housing conditions or how much money we have in the bank. His provision is unconditional. As He says in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
May you be challenged this week to see the world as God does.
Mandy Eliot is a North Texas Development Officer for Buckner Foundation.
Prayer Requests:
-God, provide us with the words this week to give encouragement when and where it is most needed.
-God, bless, protect and strengthen the countless single mothers around the world. Remind them that you are always near.
*The Family Pathways program provides families the opportunity to live in a safe, secure environment while program participants learn the necessary skills needed to become self-sufficient. The program participants are provided a full continuum of support through the provision of affordable housing, high quality child care, financial assistance, vocational training, parenting education, budget training, life skills and individual and group counseling.
Sign up here to have our weekly Faith Focus e-mail delivered to your inbox!
