Ireland…. Ireland has been an interesting month for me. I have done a number of different types of ministry. It has definitely been a month of challenges and growth, which is great and hard at the same time.
The first week I was in Bray, Ireland working with an AMAZING ministry called Betel. Betel is a home that is spread out pretty widely through Europe. It is a place where men (and women in certain areas) with addictions check themselves in to basically a recovery center. It is free of charge and is Christian run. There is no specific ‘program’ that each struggling addict goes through. Basically it is the reliance on God to help heal them. Here many people find and learn about Christ’s love for them and that God is bigger than any addiction.
The work that I did for this house may seem like a tedious job, but a VERY important one. I walked for hours and hours daily putting flyers into peoples mail slots. These flyers tell about the two services these men (typically the ones who have been at the house for a little bit of time) offer. They offer a landscaping/gardening service, as well as, collect gentle used furniture to re-sell. You may be asking, why is this an important task to had out these flyers???
The Betel House does NOT charge the people who come to get help anything. The house is strictly paid and run for by the services they offer. Getting the word out about these services is vital is allowing this house to continue to function as a safe place for men struggling with addiction. It was wonderful to hear that even after the first day of handing out flyers that many people were calling saying they recieved our flyer and would like to use one of the services!!!
I have been so blessed to meet the men at the Betel house. Being able to spend lunch and dinners with them and learn about their stories. Men who have struggled with alcoholism, sex addiction, drugs of all the sorts etc. and have overcome their addiction by seeking Christ for healing. These men may have stumbled in their walk of life, but so do we all, and they have come out of their struggles as AMAZING STRONG men who LOVE the Lord Our God!
Quite a few more men have came recently to the Betel house and yesterday and today I have had the priviledge to return to this ministry and meet a few new men! May God Bless them all and their beautiful, wise and loving hearts!
LOVE!
