At last

 This morning we actually managed to get past the first session of the Restoration programme.

On Monday evening Ashley and I went through "About you" with about twenty members of a local addiction support group. Some were interested, others a bit miffed that they'd come with a list of questions only to find the meeting was focused on something else. We thanked them for their time and invited them all to the next session on Saturday.

On Saturday six of the group turned up at the church hall to delve deeper into understanding and breaking the cycle of damaged lives, unforgiveness, self-centredness and pain. We'd prayed that the right people would attend. These were the support group leader, his wife and four men whom he'd identified as future group leaders. They wanted to be equipped to help others; they ended up being challenged and informed themselves.

We were trying to fit five sessions into one day. One of the challenges of working in the community is the difficulty of getting people to commit to a time for regular meetings, especially when some work and others can't see the point. That's why we'd agreed to try a one-day programme. This group saw the benefit of what we were offering and even said, "Don't hurry through the material. We'll come again. Tell us everything." So we tried.

We only covered about half of what we'd planned but even so, one man said he'd sat through many courses but none had made such an impact as this (and we hadn't even reached the topic of forgiveness).

Thank God for his timing and his gathering the right people. This is how ideas spread - organically and at a grassroots level, by people known and trusted reaching others in a way that an outside process might struggle to achieve.

We're looking forward to the next time.