It has been said that God is in the details. Not only is that true, but His attention to the details as it relates to Obria is a thing of wonder and awe. There is nothing too small to escape His notice, and there is nothing so big that it would cause Him to withdraw His hands of mercy and grace.
This is a story of how a worldwide pandemic, an overwhelmed staff member, an eager volunteer, a single mom, and two other nonprofit employees collided to see how God is not only fully-willing, but abundantly capable of showing up.
Several weeks into Georgia’s shelter-in-place decree, Patient Care Manager, Angela Churillo, had reached the end of herself and the end of her rope. Feeling overwhelmed by the increased workload that coincided with the temporary loss of all in-house volunteers and a diminished staff count, she sat in the baby boutique and cried. Angela noted that, “Trusting God with all of my heart has never been a problem, but not leaning on my own understanding has always been a source of colossal struggle.”
Enter volunteer, Jen Mitchell, who has the most amazing capacity to love and mentor single moms. Being a single mom herself, she is well equipped to reach Obria’s single moms. After many starts and stops with how best to utilize our volunteers, Jen sat at home, ready, willing, and able to serve Obria. With the shelter in place in effect, she was getting stir crazy. God was in the details when Jen reached out to Angela about the possibility of leading a Bible study via Zoom. And just like that, our Single Mom’s Support Group was born. This gave Jen a chance to serve where she is truly called and resolved a problem that Angela had been wrestling with.
Several months passed and Erica* entered the story. She discovered Obria approximately halfway into her pregnancy and became a member of our Thrive program. The day she joined the program, she expressed sadness over being left by the father of her baby when he learned of her pregnancy. Despite this setback, she looked straight into the future and began preparing for the arrival of her baby. She also joined our newly formed single mom’s support group and immediately began forging a relationship with Jen.
When Erica had her precious baby girl, she had complications that required rehospitalization. Additionally, she was faced with the loss of housing, but she was not deterred and found shelter for herself and her baby at a local shelter.
This brings us to the loss of Erica’s car. Again, God is in the details. Not wanting to lose her job, Erica opted to take unpaid maternity leave which would hold her position and provide her with the security of knowing she would have a job to return to. Unfortunately, maternity leave disqualified her from receiving unemployment. With the loss of income, Erica was not able to make her car payments, and her car was repossessed. She shared that development with her mom’s group, and Jen reached out to Angela to see if she knew of any resources that Erica could tap into.
Enter Ebony Russell from Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV). Ebony has been an invaluable resource for Angela, so it was logical for her to turn to Ebony first. Once again, God was in the details because Ebony had a relationship with another local nonprofit that awards cars to single moms. Ebony immediately put Angela in touch with that non-profit and an application was completed and turned in for Erica to be considered as a potential car recipient. By the way, the car is approved by a certified mechanic and accompanied by a one-year membership to AAA. After a thorough review process, we are pleased to share that Erica was awarded the car!
Nothing is too big or too small for our God.
*Patient name changed to protect her privacy.