“We want to make them feel that they are wanted, we want them to know that there are people who really love them, who really want them…It is not very often things they need. What they need much more is what we offer them. In these twenty years of work amongst the people, I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience.” -- Mother Teresa
An unassuming man stood in the back of the meeting room. We don’t know his story, other than the fact he had come from the streets to an apartment at Village Oaks via the Gateway Program. The occasion was a Gateway event recognizing some of the partners of the program.
The man expressed his gratitude to the Gateway staff and their partners. He expressed his appreciation for the help he had received: his furnished apartment and a life going in a new direction.
And he said something more. It was his main point and what he was most thankful for.
“You walked with me and you took my hand.”
Our friend at Village Oaks is thankful for the things he has been given, to be sure. And we’re so thankful he has a home at Village Oaks. But we’re even more thankful he has experienced walking together. Being taken by the hand. Being wanted.
-- Behind Every Door Ministries
