JOY Stories
Tina
A Season for Everything
My first five years in Atlanta were spent climbing the corporate ladder of a Fortune 500 company. Then, because of a merger, middle management positions were consolidated, and I found myself in the unemployment line - pregnant with our first child. After grappling with God over my will vs His will, I began to embrace the life of a stay-at-home mom that He had clearly called me to.
Before long, I was deep in the trenches of my new job – raising four children less than seven years apart. Amongst other roles, from their toddler to teenage years, I acted as referee and room mom, chef and chauffeur, parent and principal (during our homeschool stint). In 2016 when our youngest graduated from high school, I thought my job was done. Bring on the empty nester years.
As I began to wonder what I was going to do with all my time, God began to stir in my heart the need to do something for those caught in the trap of sexual exploitation. I had served as a part-time volunteer with a local Atlanta anti-trafficking organization since 2011, but in 2016, He gave me a specific strategy to show His love to a group of folks in the northwest Atlanta area.
In January of 2017, The Table on Delk opened its doors to serve the women and children who were currently or at risk of being sexually exploited out of motels on Delk Road. We offer them a safe place to hang out, eat free meals, and connect them to resources that they might not know about. What started as a single day-time outreach on Saturday, has grown to ministry six days a week – including multiple Bible studies, laundry, life skills, and Celebrate Recovery.
During each transition in my life, I was tempted to believe the lie that the best years were behind me. I was tempted to compare the season that I was leaving to the season that was beginning.
The truth is, there’s no comparison. As Ecclesiastes 3 states, “For everything, there is a season.” Just as the four seasons are all very different, each season of my life has been different. Not better or worse, but good in ways unlike the others.
Photos for Tina
PHOTO 1 of 13