Loved...as in "I am..."
"You are..."
"Be..."

" in a world where you can be anything, be kind..."
Remind
Help someone find
Whisper from behind...
And call from the road ahead...
Into every mind
Where fear winds
Its lies and discouragement. And the world says you can't. And you won't. And you aren't.
Speak
This true word...
That I am loved. You are loved. Your name is beloved.

#lovewins

 

I've been experimenting with video postings on Facebook. For those of you who know that I'm somewhat technology challenged (was once the Dummie on which my son-in-law's programmer interns tested "is is clear enough yet?") this might be amusing.
HEY...I'm doing okay...except I don't know how to talk and show a photo at the same time.

IF you want to hear the video, send me a friend request on FB or check out my timeline.

This poem came after weeks of fog and wildfire-generated smoke residue in California. The fog felt grey and sad. Like a veil between me and the sun. Reminding me of those LONG midwestern winters where the sun pretty much went into hiding from October til May and, in the middle of it. you wondered whether the sun really existed at all.

the mural LOVED came in the middle of a week that didn't feel like love. I didn't realize how deeply sad I would be at John McCain's passing. His character and honesty  was like a small LED light breaking the fog of the current political environment. Realities that have made me weep (not symbolically, actual sobbing)...565 children still held captive by our government. STILL not returned to their parents - many of whom were deported. Many told "drop your asylum request and go home if you want your children to be returned."
A dear friend has been hospitalized repeatedly in the past year - nearly died at least 3 or 4 times. In the chaos, she missed a critical date for review of her Social Security Disability approval. Send a huge stack of documents proving her hospitalization(s) and was disapproved even so.  Now, threatened with removal of the only support she has, she could find herself homeless again. TOO MUCH! .... That's what the 20 BILLION dollar cut in HUD funding actually looks like.....processes looking for any way to deny people.  

Another best beloved just can't get thing together to go to rehab. Gathering the fragments of her life and pain to actually RISK making a change is overwhelming.  And, I am overwhelmed watching her.

All this...and I find the mural with one word LOVED.  Loved.  And I keep thinking about that. Returning to that. Pulling up the image on my phone when I'm feeling overwhelmed and deeply sad at the state of the world and the silence of much of the human community.

So, this poem came out. Reminding me of what is true.

If YOU are discouraged. If your justice heart, like mine, is rocked with pain and confusion. If you want something to be different and realize - like me - that the only thing you can control is YOU.

Here's a small word of encouragement.

"I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world."

Jhn 16:33

I am loved
You are loved
be loved

Beloved....

Recovery. Community. Grace. Chit Chat in the Tenderloin

It's AUGUST! What happened? It's like whiplash!

A beautiful report about Chit Chat Cafe, our women's 12-Step-based support group here in the Tenderloin.
About 2 1/2 years ago, God started nudging me about the real need to help women in recovery integrate their spiritual lives with the hard work of becoming and staying clean and sober.
I began to connect with women leaders in the 12 step community here in SF to ask advice. I attended an extensive training with Celebrate Recovery to see if their approach was a good fit for women in the Tenderloin.
Everyone said, "This is a GREAT idea...It's such a need...YES....start a group."
But no one could help - and I didn't know how to start a group or how to structure the group to fit Tenderloin women's unique needs.
I finally put the whole idea on the back burner. I respect the process and wisdom of the 12 Step community that says meeting and groups are not "therapy" they offer peer support. Because I've never been in recovery from chemical and alcohol addiction, I just plain don't qualify.

So I waited. More than a year.

Enter Karina, an intern with Because Justice Matters and Esther Movement Ministry. She came to learn and serve. AND brought with her years of recovery work....the 12 Steps had been integral to her own healing and relationship with Jesus.  So, we began Chit Chat Cafe, a women-only group. Karina brought her wisdom and understanding. The group started slowly and grew.

Now...WOW. This group hosts 4-9 women every single week. We have been exploring and sharing "experiences hopes and dreams" about each step....questions like "when did I experience the care of God?" or "What does it feel like to realize I'm powerless?" One week we talked about the safety of knowing God is THERE...."a power greater than myself"...about knowing that means we aren't alone in the struggle to become and stay clean and sober.

Every single week we LAUGH. Women tell bits of their own stories. Last week we talked about regret....and HOPE.
This is SO beautiful. I wanted to share it with all of you. Because God did it! And, it has become a small, fierce light of HOPE for women in the Tenderloin.

My dream in starting Chit Chat Cafe was 1) to support women in their drug and alcohol recovery work and 2) to create a place and process where women could bring their growing faith and their growing Recovery together.
And THAT's exactly what is happening.

Recently we "prayed out" 3 "trainees" (interns by another name) as they prepared to leave Because Justice Matters and return to college.  These 3 lovely young women had been coming to Chit Chat all summer. Sharing themselves and their own trek into life with a bunch of women mostly old enough to be their mothers.

As they shared about leaving, each one was SO sad. "I'll miss you," they said. "Thank you for letting us come."
The women prayed for them. For new experiences. For success in school. For the "next step in your life."  One woman, who lives on the streets and copes with severe mental illness prayed, "Go. Be Safe. We won't forget you."

I wish you all could come to Chit Chat. Sit in that circle and read the Steps that help women find themselves and believe in themselves again.
To sit with women who once thought they were lost in homelessness and addiction and see them encourage and call each other to grow and change.
To laugh together. To share a meal and welcome someone new. And to believe. Together. That change is possible and God can make us new creations.

Thank you all for support. Encouragement. And for believing in me and in what I'm doing here in SF.

Love to you all
Nothing is impossible!

JULIA