Comfort and Encouragement
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By Shirley Duncan
rowing up at Hephzibah Children’s Home as a child myself, my heart goes out to the residents that we serve because I have experienced the feelings of being unwanted, unloved, unnoticed, and forgotten. My go to verse in the Bible when I feel the surge of those childhood emotions haunting my present is: When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up. Psalm 27:10 It is a tremendous comfort and encouragement for me! I think that is why I have worked on staff at Hephzibah for over 28 years…I want to be a help and offer hope to the children, like me, who need a temporary place to live while the Lord takes care of them.
I was in my office recently when a knock on the door came. It was a new, teen fella who timidly explained to me that the other kids had told him that I had free candy. That candy jar has opened up more doors of opportunity than anything that I have ever known. I invited him in and asked him to sit down. I let him choose three pieces of his favorite kind. As he relaxed and opened up the candy wrappers, he also opened his heart. “Did you really grow up here too?” “Yes, I came to Hephzibah at age 13 from North Carolina.” “I am 13 too. My grandmother was taking care of me but she died of cancer. Would you like to see her funeral bulletin?” He reached in his back pocket and passed me a folded over funeral home program. I read it carefully, sensing his tremendous loss and grief. He hung his head low as if reliving the final goodbye. “I know she must have loved you with all of her heart.” “She took care of me when mama ran away. She was all that I had. Now, I live here.”
I hang my heart a lot of days on Romans 8:28. It is a soft pillow for weary hearts.
“It’s going to be ok. I have a feeling that she is watching from heaven and wants you to be happy and provided for. My mother couldn’t take care of me either and that is why I came to live at Hephzibah.” “How long did it take you to forgive your mother?” “Well…I couldn’t forgive her until I became an adult and realized that she did the best that she could. She loved me in her own way, but she wasn’t able to love me the way that I needed to be loved and cared for. God helped me give Him the hurt so then, I could forgive her. “I KNEW you were a nice church lady!!!” We both laughed and his houseparent came to take him back to his cottage. He comes to my office regularly now for free candy and a chat. I really believe that what we go through in life is a way of God loving others through our lives. There is a reason and a season for everything that occurs. No, it may be unfair and wrong but God can still use it. I hang my heart a lot of days on Romans 8:28. It’s a soft pillow for weary hearts. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 I am available to speak to your church or group about the ministry of Hephzibah Children’s Home or my life story. Just contact me on Facebook or at 478.477.3383. In His Love, Shirley Duncan Hephzibah Children’s Home • Macon, GA
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