"New Name is my family.  Along the road I’ve lost all of my blood family due to addictions, the streets and hard living...

 

When I met New Name I didn’t even know what it was like to be loved by other women. I remember thinking back and feeling so awkward wondering why would these women be coming to spend time with me? They didn't need anything from me, I didn't have anything to offer them. 

 

Good godly women coming together just to support one another and simply love me was so foreign to me. There was nothing I could do for those women, I couldn’t even offer them a chair to sit in or a drink. But none of that mattered to these women! They were there simply to love on me! I didn’t know then what family felt like or having a mother figure there or a sister or just a friend. 

 

Today, those moments have turned into years and New Name is still here walking alongside me! I crave and cherish those times I get to worship and just love-on another woman just because, not wanting anything in return. And I still remember sitting in my new apartment with no furniture with these lovely women and thinking God, if I ever have a heart that’s at least a half of what these women have, I’ll be so grateful! 

 

Finally, New Name is my family!  I still miss my family that have passed away but today I can pick up the phone and call some pretty amazing women when I need it and plenty of times when I don’t also! They used to tell me this is what family does!!  And New Name is what family does! They aren’t just some program that helps you and sends you on your way, they are my heart! My support! They love me!  And loved me when I didn’t and couldn’t even love them back! They wanted and needed nothing In return, and they guided me right into the arms of our loving Father in heaven and walked alongside and mentored me into a life I could only ever dream and pray of before!  A life filled with support, love, God, church, fellowship, worship! And finally, family!  They are teaching me how I am able to love them back, for no reason at all except that they are my sisters in Christ and God's children and I don’t want or need anything in return  because I have God's love! 

 

In closing, this really is all because of how these women so kindly came into my life and showed me how to be a woman and still teach everyday by leading and being the beautiful amazing daughters of the Most High! And now I can offer them a chair and a drink but what’s the absolute best is I can love on them and let them love on me!  Because at the end of the day...

​

                                                          “...that’s what family does!”