Goodbyes

Goodbyes are hard to say.
I recently said goodbye to my favorite client. (I know, I know, I shouldn't have favorites). 

He was the client who coined my nickname "Amish". He was the client who asked questions about faith.  And, as with each client who leaves, I spent most of my time at work with him in his last month.  In that month I saw miracles happen. 

He was a month away from discharge (aka emancipation/21/leaving the program) and he didn't have a place to live, he didn't have a job, he didn't have any money, and he hadn't graduated from high school.

These are the things we try to work with them on to get in place long before their discharge, but with him it just never came together.

So I pushed and prodded him and prayed for him. And, within the last 30 days he successfully passed the GED, his aunt is letting him live with her until he can move into an apartment, he was approved for $2000 to go towards an apartment, and he got a full time job!

He's the client I've talked about before. We've had so many good discussions about Christ. He's had so many questions and he knows that he needs to repent. So when we met on his last day I decided to give him a Bible. I didn't know  how he would react or what he would say.  I told him I had a gift for him because he asked so many questions. I told he he could now look for himself.   

I'll never forget his reaction when he opened the Bible. He stared at it. And then he asked "is this mine?" I said yes. And he grinned like a child would "I have my own Bible. Thank you."  I nearly cried.   Later, when staff  asked where he got the Bible from, he told them that his best friend gave it to him.    

I think the hardest part is knowing I may never see him again. I may never know if he turns to Christ or not.  Yet, I have faith someday he will. I just wish I could be there to see it.

In Christ

~Michelle