Shine Your Light

Today was our first day serving at the women's shelter here in San Franciscm. we spent the first part of the morning cleaning it out. and I mean cleaning it out. everything. we had to sort everything in piles out on the sidewalk in front of the shelter. this led to all kinds of people coming by to see what kind of "treasures" they could find. this gave some of us a few opportunities to strike up some conversations! and even give out some hugs! Once the common room was emptied out, it had to be cleaned. while some of us worked on that, a few of us went to the roof to haul down some broken chairs and other items. and since we were up there and the view was so beautiful, we decided why not do a quick "mini makeover" for the ladies while we were up there. I mean, we were already up there. so, Emily, Jo-Mama, Mrs. Karen and I got busy repotting a few plants and moving the chairs that were left and moving the potted plants around, and mini makeover complete!! A lot of the guys had mainly been focusing on getting the basement repainted and repairing the lights while the rest of us were in the common room painting furniture, getting a table refinished, and repainting the walls. the basement was very dimly lit and was where the women gather to eat. the guys did that on their own I might add :) Anyway...as we were starting to leave for the day, one of the workers there asked us if we would go down to the basement where the ladies were eating because they wanted to say thank you. Especially for the new lighting in the basement. Well, of course we all jumped at the opportunity to meet some of the ladies! So down to the basement we went. and we were overwhelmed with thankfulness from them!! We were hugging necks and sharing smiles when one lady threw her hands up and said "we didn't even know we was in the dark till you turned the light on!" y'all...all I could do was hug her neck tighter. she didn't even really know what she just said. Jesus said "I am the Light of the world". He calls us to be salt and light. They didn't even realize how dark it was till we turned on the light. People, turn on your lights and run to the darkness so they will know. Shine on.