Martha's Story: Living An Answered Prayer

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Martha first came to Solidarity when she enrolled her family in the Glimpse After School Program. It was only a few months later that Martha approached the Glimpse Director and expressed, “Meg, I could use some help.” 

Martha’s family was in a tough spot. Due to an injury, her husband was unable to work and her family was in need. Even in tough times, though, it was easy to see the determination, humility and deep love Martha had for her family.

A prayer that had been silent for quite some time was starting to surface. 

"God, will you please help my family, heal my husband, and help us with rent? Also, can you help me gain citizenship, get a job, and help my children to do well in school?"

God answered her prayer almost immediately as Martha enrolled in a workforce service program, called ResCare. The program required her to volunteer thirty-five hours a week at Solidarity and, in return, they would provide her with rental assistance.

During Martha’s program, she assisted with Glimpse, cleaned the 601 Community Center, and added an incredible amount of program support.

Despite language and cultural barriers, this woman’s vast array of gifts, drive, and love for people far surpassed the obstacles she faced. She worked herself into an essential role, compelling Solidarity to create a paid position on the Maple team.

Six months into her new role at Solidarity, God moved in Martha’s husband’s life and healed him of his ailments. Being the God that He is, the Lord went above and beyond and allowed Martha’s husband to get a new job and provided two cars for their family.

The healing of Martha’s husband stirred something within Martha and her family.

Martha has said that the inside of her heart has been transformed by the love of God through answered prayers regarding her husband and family’s health. She experienced God’s character shining in her life and has become a bold, free and hope-filled leader in her community, speaking life and encouragement to other women and their children.

She is truly becoming the woman God made her to be, generously using her Kingdom talents and abilities as the Maple Community Development Associate. As a person of peace in the Maple neighborhood, Martha and her family are a living light within the darkness of the community.

In the Solidarity neighborhoods, it’s common for parents to feel like their voice is no longer significant after their kids reach Jr. High. Yet Martha has naturally gathered the parents in the community, working hard to establish an understanding among the parents to know how important their role is.

A growing community of parents is finding support in one another as they participate in parent training seminars, taking leadership in planning community events, and comeing together to study God’s Word and pray for each other.

Within the students’ lives, Martha has been instrumental in bringing together two of the Solidarity neighborhoods that were once considered rival gang communities. This has come from her being a spiritual mother to many of the young women in both the Maple and Garnet neighborhood. God’s love within Martha’s life overflowed onto the young women, fostering a new community that was no longer divided by neighborhood lines. 

God has answered Martha’s prayers beyond what she could have ever expected. Her husband is healed. She got sworn in as a citizen in February. Both she and her husband got new jobs and they are able to continually make rent. Her children have been chasing after God and are excelling in school getting all As and Bs. Martha has been entrusted with a role of speaking new life into the Maple & Garnet neighborhoods by working with the moms and students.

The life she is living today is an answered prayer that Martha could never have expected.