Shanon's House of Compassion

Summertime greetings from Shanon’s House of Compassion,

Summertime at Shanon’s House has been very busy. We took a few
days of vacation and came back rested and ready for the full house
that God supplied very rapidly! This month we’ve had guests from,
Texas,Tennessee, Ohio, Florida and Muscle Shoals, Cullman, Grove Oak,
Elkmont and Rainsville, AL.

We have had many opportunities to listen, encourage, and pray
with our guests. Included among the many blessings for us in
this ministry are the lessons and encouragement we receive
from our guests. Here are a few lessons we’ve learned this month.

One guest we became close to was leaving and taking her husband
to spend his last few days at home. We were saying our goodbyes
and I told her what a beautiful example she was to me in the way
she cared so lovingly for her husband. Her reply with tears in
her eyes was “I love my Lord and I love my husband.” All week I
thought about those words. When we love the Lord with all our
heart, loving others will come naturally.

One guest was talking to another guest and they found out that
they had several friends in common. We made the statement “It
really is a small world.” Then our guest whose wife is terminally
ill with cancer said, “Just like all our problems are small to God.”
I thought how true, there’s nothing too big for our God.

Many of our guests have newborns that are born prematurely. Many
are unable to hold their baby until they reach a certain weight.
One mother was describing to us how wonderful it felt the first time
she was able to hold her newborn baby. Then she said, “This must be
how God feels when He holds us.” What a beautiful picture of the love
God has for each of us.

Toward the end of the month we had a guest from Ohio. She was
adopting a baby with Down Syndrome. We were talking with her and
asked her how she decided to take on this challenge. She said,
“I was praying for God to take away my selfish heart. Then one day
I heard Gene Stallings talk about what a blessing his son had been
to him. I believe I’m just doing what God wants me to do.”
This was a powerful lesson to us about stepping out in faith.

One of our guests wrote in a note this month, “We will forever be
grateful and hope to be able to pay it forward when we see other families struggling.” This made us aware of what a wonderful world this would be
if we all “paid it forward”.

The last two months we have had a full house. We believe the word is
out about Shanon’s House. One guest came for a return visit,
it was after the Marriage Matters seminar. He told us “I tell
everyone about Shanon’s house and every time I saw your church on T.V.
(advertising the seminar) I thought about Shanon’s House”. Another
guest from out of state sent updates on her baby that went out to about
40 people,she wrote “The Lord has provided a wonderful place that I got to
stay at while I was there called the Shanon’s House of Compassion. It is
a ministry of a local church named in honor of a very special young
man who passed away from cancer. The church provides hospitality and
lodging for people needing it and they don’t charge anything.
That is a HUGE blessing!”

As I looked back over my journal for the month, I realized when our
reservoir was running low, God sent encouragement through many of our
church family and also in the guests we had. Once again we were reminded
that God is faithful and God is so good.

We often say that everyday here is a new adventure. We meet so many
interesting people from so many different backgrounds. We feel blessed
to be able to work with our fellow brothers and sisters as we strive to
be that sweet aroma of Christ to the world. We know this work would not
be possible without all of your support and prayers. Johnny and I are
grateful to each and every one of you and most of all to our Lord and Savior.

In Him who gives us hope,
Christy and Johnny