Reflections

from the Desk of Sara Patterson, CEO

I’ve been thinking a lot about new life and births this summer. In fact, it’s hard to think of much else with the anticipated birth of my first grandchild, due in July! It’s an especially poignant event when I remember that had I made another decision as a pregnant, single, seventeen-year-old high-school drop-out, the impact of generations would be erased from history.   

 As we celebrate our 40th anniversary this year at Care Net, I thank God for the lives that have been saved and transformed because of your obedience, faithfulness, and sacrificial giving. Your ongoing support replaces despair and isolation with hope and a loving community for women and men in difficult circumstances.

It seems fitting that, like the Israelites of old, we are looking forward to another promised land as we begin construction on our second maternity home. Nothing says distress more than a pregnant woman left to navigate a pregnancy on her own. Especially when she’s found the courage to continue her pregnancy despite the lack of basic needs like food and housing and people who support her decision to protect her unborn child.  Recently, a woman named Jeri applied to live in our current maternity home. When I explained I could place her on the waiting list, she said, “I don’t understand why I have to wait. I’m pregnant now. I don’t have a place to live, and I have nothing. This doesn’t seem right.”   

God has asked us to care for these “widows and orphans in their distress” as an expression of true faith. Jeri is right – the current world situation is not right. But God has a plan to make it right and though His provision may not always match our earthly timeline and expectations, He will provide.  

We are about to usher in a new decade of promise and opportunities for women just like Jeri.  Instead of waiting for a room, we’ll have a room waiting for them.  That’s what God’s kingdom is about.  That’s what He called us to do. Please prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do, above and beyond your regular giving, so we can complete this construction and say “Welcome Home” to women who rely on us to make things right.

In Christ,  

Sara