It's never too late to pursue a dream God puts in your heart, no matter how big and overwhelming it seems to be!
For 10 years or more, I continued to revisit an idea God planted in my heart and that was to create a home for widowed women. So many women often struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle after the passing of their husband. Many are forced into a nursing home, where they quickly decline, not to mention, their home and assets quickly diminish if appropriate financial decisions were not made prior. The vision God put into my heart was the idea that women, including several in my family, who were still able to care for themselves could live in a “roommate” type environment. It came up in my heart every time someone’s mother found herself widowed and decisions about her care came to the forefront. Years would pass, and it just seemed like too challenging of a idea to tackle, only God would not let it go!
Late Fall 2019, I began to be more familiar with a local organization called Hope of Mooresville. HOME is a family care facility in Mooresville for homeless women and children. It was when our church reached out to them to deliver spaghetti dinners every month that I really got to see the house and how it operated.
As I walked through the home, God showed me this was the very same home environment that I wanted for widowed women!
I began doing some research and decided that it was time to move forward! I had shared my vision recently with a few here and there, including a co-worker, who shared it with his wife. One day at work, she walked into my office and pulled up a chair at my desk. She began to share with me finding 4 coins within a couple days of each other. These coins, she felt, was God telling her she was to sow them into this ministry, which she supported wholeheartedly. Just her sharing the finding of these coins, and how God touched her heart, moved both of us to tears! I was overwhelmed by her gesture that I knew more than ever it was time. I felt like God used the 2 pennies to represent the widow giving all she had, 2 copper coins, found in Mark 12: 41-44 and the 2 nickels representing my age.
Shortly thereafter, Felicity Manor was born. It will become a Family Care Facility where 5-6 widowed women will live together in a residential type setting. Each person will have a private bedroom and bath in the home, with other commons spaces to share. My vision is that the residents will be able to care for themselves, enjoy the social aspect of the house, and their families can come and go.
Obviously, there is much work to do, much research and planning to take place, but I don’t have a shadow of doubt that it will come to pass. God will do it! We will need donations, grants, corporate sponsorship's, in-kind giving, etc. but I trust that it will happen, because I know in my spirit that this is God-Inspired, and His word says not to despise small beginnings!