Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #248 – The Impact of Connection
Joins us for a special episode with Kourtney Barr, Deputy Director of Transformational Services, and Isabell Chronister, Director of Trauma Education & Development, as they share heartfelt stories of transformation, hope, and the power of human connection. This episode dives into the intentional investment in the emotional and spiritual needs of our guests and unsheltered neighbors, exploring how giving people a voice can spark profound change. From addressing the deep wounds of trauma to celebrating every individual’s inherent worth, Isabell and Kourtney invite us to see the Imago Dei—the image of God—in everyone.
Through personal anecdotes and thought-provoking insights, they challenge us to meet people where they are and help them discover their true value. Transformation is possible, and this conversation reminds us that love and faith are the catalysts for lasting change.
To learn more about TRM Ministries: Click Here!
To support TRM, Click Here!
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, lord, for this day and your blessings. God, and just this time to record this podcast. Lord, we thank you for our listeners. Pray that they would be encouraged and, lord, that they would hear something that would, god, just move them to action or stir their hearts. Lord, god, we thank you and invite your spirit into this time In your holy name. We pray amen.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody, thank you for joining us for our Community, our Mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission. This is your host, barry Feeker, here on Wednesday, november 20th 2024, for episode number 248. And we are blessed to have Executive Director Lamanda Broyles here this morning.
Speaker 3:Good morning. Oh, you're being nice.
Speaker 2:I know, I am, I am I wasn't prepared for that. I thought we'd start out on a good note.
Speaker 3:Okay, that's great. Good morning, it is, yeah, good morning, yeah, so how are you? I am, you know, a chaotic, yet peaceful person. Right now. There's just so much going on at the mission, around the mission, in our community, about homelessness, and so much of it is incredible and good, but then I find myself just, oh man, I hope I didn't miss something, I hope I didn't drop the ball on something, because it's just so much professionally. And then you know, I'm still a human outside of TRM and trying to be a mom and yeah, can you believe it?
Speaker 3:That's not in the job description. Yeah, so overall good, but, man, it is just a busy time that I just want to enjoy and not overlook, but it's a lot right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there are these events this time of year. Yes, thanksgiving. We talked about that a little bit last time. We have that small little event called Christmas.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:So what updates do you have in regards to people to maybe looking on the website?
Speaker 3:or Facebook.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, I think, with Thanksgiving, just continuing to ask and give thanks for any kind of food donations that we get in through the DC, because we do try to tailor our food bags and everything that we give out during the week of Thanksgiving to be more like Thanksgiving meals and everything, so we appreciate that. As far as Christmas goes, man, we need volunteers for the mobile access party that we're going to be doing for the unsheltered neighbors we're doing it a little bit different this year, neighbors, we're doing it a little bit different this year. That will be held on a normal map day at the Salvation Army, but we are still open to people participating if they want. We've got guest parties happening for both the Men's Side and the Hope Center and you know, christmas, I think, has just always been so incredibly special here.
Speaker 3:I just hear stories from past guests. I've heard stories from you children that were once children at the Hope Center and they grow up and they're adults and they come back remembering just the stocking or remembering those kinds of things and so. But what we've tried to do now is also just incorporate some more like personalization from wrapping of the gifts and putting names on things and just really trying to look at how can we spend more time with them during the party as well. So we need volunteers for that. We do gingerbread contests and gingerbread houses and all of that kind of stuff. So in addition to the donations, we need to make Christmas happen. You know from the gifts we need for the people that we are serving through Christmas Bureau to. We are up to almost 250 guests and as of yesterday we had 42 of them were children 250 people staying in shelter at the rescue mission and how many children?
Speaker 2:42. 42 of those were kids. So you're creeping right back up there to pre-pandemic days. We are, yes.
Speaker 3:And so when we're looking at you know, we just have a belief here at the rescue mission, we want all children to have a new outfit for Christmas, and so we need clothing for that.
Speaker 3:We do stockings for the Hope Center and just those kinds of things, with an understanding that many of us are waking up on Christmas morning or doing traditions on Christmas Eve those kinds of things, and realizing that our guests it's kind of extremes, barry.
Speaker 3:There's some that maybe don't have any type of tradition, so they have no expectation of a holiday. Maybe even holidays are hard for them because of traumatic triggers, things like that. And so for those people, we are trying to come with them in an inclusive way to say we are so glad that you're here and we love you and we want to give you these gifts to show it, we want to partake in this meal. To show it, we want to be silly and have these gingerbread houses contest. To show you, we want to spend time with you. The other side of it is the people that have been accustomed to traditions and having their own space and now they have found themselves, regardless of reason, in a circumstance that requires them to wake up on a Christmas morning or Christmas Eve at a rescue mission, and so having had something and lost them.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so then we want to hear about their traditions, we want to try to bring as much normalcy as possible for children, we want it to be exciting, they're going to be loud, we want to have snacks, you know those kinds of things, and so, really, just how do we make our shelters home, away from home, but in an empathetic way too, for those that could be hurting? And so donations are needed for that, volunteers are needed for that, and definitely prayers for just all of our guests, all of our staff members that are juggling all of that and wanting to do the right thing.
Speaker 2:So some people that participate with Topeka Rescue Mission have studied the issue of homelessness, understand the why behind these special things that you do. Other people that probably are not listening right now, but they might be to this podcast are saying why don't you just do a bed and a shelter and get them on the road? What's the value of these extra things that are done not just at the holidays but all throughout, every day, beyond shelter, food and clothes?
Speaker 3:You know, I think when we look at value and why we do what we do, it can be very subjective and definitely based on opinion from one extreme to the next. I think, from the lens that we look at it, of why we do what we do, nothing seems enabling, nothing seems too much, nothing seems null and void when we compare it to the sacrifice of salvation and that Christ came at Christmastime to be born, to live a perfect life and spent years trying to show people that they're loved for no reason other than just their existence. And so there is no resource whether it's a sandwich, a Gatorade bottle, a tent resource, whether it's a sandwich, a Gatorade bottle, a tent, a name badge that allows them to come into our shelter, there is nothing that is too much for these people. And when I say that, it is because we have a God who says I love you, I want you to have the option of eternity with me in heaven. And so when we are charged here as humans, particularly at the rescue mission, we're going to use every opportunity, every resource as a chance to then be able to share that gospel for people to realize that we might start off with giving them a stocking and hugging that four-year-old kid who just watched their mom flee a bad situation, their mom flee a bad situation. I mean we do that because, you know, jesus said let the children come to me. And we do that by loving that four-year-old, because then that four-year-old has a mother who then is probably not in a good situation, not in a good place, worried, and all of that. And when we're able to love her child, that gives us an opportunity then to love her.
Speaker 3:Or it might be a male guest who we give that pair of boots to and he feels so undeserving, but we recognize the boots that he's wearing is what he walks in every day to get to work. And so I think it's just important for us to use everything, every item, every conversation to say we are so sorry that your circumstance by society has deemed something negative, but we, while you are here, are going to feed you, we're going to clothe you, we're going to have fun with you, we're going to give you the same opportunities as much as possible as any of us have. We are going to try to do those things and we do that 365 days a year, but I hope particularly we are doing that through times such as birthdays, holidays, anniversaries that people have walking through death, anniversaries, all of that. That is life, and we are approaching the holidays, which are great for some and hard for others, and no item or time we want to be voided and to miss those opportunities.
Speaker 2:It takes the homeless issue a whole lot deeper and more investment rather than just shelter. And so many people want the homeless gone. They don't want to see them, they want them out of their community, whatever that means, and just put them somewhere. And that's not the approach of Topeka Rescue Mission at all. Yes, having a place for people to go so they don't have to be on the streets, but going the mile, the extra mile, whatever it takes to be able to help that person know that they're valued. And that's I, the mile, the extra mile, whatever it takes, um, to be able to help that person know that they're valued. And that's, I think, you, what you LaManda, what you've done, is really kind of set up, I think, really well for our topic today and the people we're going to talk to, and that's about transformation and um, so we have Courtney Barr, who is a deputy director of transformational services, on the podcast. Again, hi, courtney.
Speaker 4:Good for. Transformational Services on the podcast again. Hi, courtney, good morning, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well, how are you Good? I'm good. Yeah, you know I like talking about, I like listening to LaManda unpack these very heartfelt. It's not that I really enjoy seeing her cry, but it really does kind of pull out the heart of what this is all about.
Speaker 2:Topeka Rescue Mission and a number of years there was an intentional investment in understanding trauma and how it affects people and we've had you explain that before which has taken into the trust-based relational interventions, tbri, a whole trauma intervention system within Topeka Rescue Mission and out in the community and nationally. Now, because of some research through Topeka Rescue Mission on people experiencing trauma as children and what that does to them. We talked about that here before on the podcast. But more than that, understanding how we can minister to not just what it does to people but how we can minister to folks here and so within your department, which is kind of broad range now a lot of different things you also have a director, a new director now, of the trauma education and development and so please introduce your new person here who's been on the podcast in a different role here, but please introduce her.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I am excited for just how the Lord works everything out. And when Aslamanda was talking, and as you were talking about what does it mean to show value to people? And does it just make sense to give someone a bed and hot meal and have them be on their way? And I think that we have is ready to go, um, to take that next step in her career, and she's just had a roadblock after roadblock and hasn't been able to secure a job yet. Um, but that's just yet, and it's not that she's not trying. She has put in applications, she has gone in person, she has done her due diligence and she was heartbroken at the celebration last week and was emotional because she is ready. She's just like I just want to move forward, and so it's so easy for us to, from the outside, when you're not close to it, to have our own perceptions or opinions or judgments of they just need to get a job and move on, but that's not the case for everyone, so what?
Speaker 2:are some of the roadblocks for an individual like that? I mean, she's ready to go to work and yes, there are people saying we'll hire. She's ready to go to work and yes, there are people saying we'll hire. What are some of the roadblocks that, whether it's that particular situation obviously I'm not going to mention the name or just generally that people can go through training, they're ready to go, but yet it's not working.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so for this individual specifically, she's a single mom and so her hours are restricted on what she is able to work, which is going to restrict her ability of which jobs are accepting and which ones are not.
Speaker 2:Child care.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and her kids are school age, so it's it's not even child care.
Speaker 2:It's just before after school time frame.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and being a parent and, like motherhood, I think, is one of the most underrated jobs in today's society, and you have to figure out how to juggle all of it at the same time, and she's definitely trying, but that's not everyone's circumstances. Obviously, there's other barriers that can come up with obtaining jobs, and transportation is another huge one. Our metro system doesn't get to everywhere it should get, especially for some of the higher paying jobs that are on different routes that our bus system does not go to. It doesn't run on Sundays at all, so you have to find a job that doesn't want you to work weekends necessarily every weekend, or be willing to walk miles and miles necessarily every weekend, or be willing to walk miles and miles. So there's so many barriers. If we would be willing to get close to the problem and see what the actual problem is, not the person.
Speaker 2:There was a young lady here who was expecting and she had two small children that were daycare age. That one day she came to me and she says I can't work, I can't do anything. Basically communicated to me I'm going to stay here at the rescue, miss the rest of my life while you raise me and my kids. And I said, nah, it's not going to work. So I said to her that she must get a job and she must be able to figure out how to do it all, and we would help her if she had questions, the best we could. She said, well, give me a car. Her attitude wasn't really good at the moment about all this and she was a lot of trauma. That I didn't understand at the time and just saying here's what we'll do, this is what you have to do. But I said I'm not getting you a car, we have a bus. Well, anyway, I'm not getting you a car, we have a bus. Well, anyway.
Speaker 2:I checked in with her about two or three weeks later and I said so how's it going? She said, well, I'm working it. And she said but it's hard. She said I have to get up, get the kids ready about five o'clock in the morning I have to stand down here at the bus station, wait for the bus, child off, and then we have to get back on the bus again to go to a different daycare for child number two and drop her off, and then I get back on the bus and then I go to my job and hopefully I'm going to make it there by the 730 am which I'm supposed to start.
Speaker 2:And she said I work all day. Then I get back on the bus and go and reverse it the other way and then finally get back to the Beaker Rescue Mission, hopefully in time for dinner. And then I'd do it again the next day and I'd had to pause and think my word. Could I do that Even to understand the metro system, which most people that have a car never even thought about doing? Just jumping in. Well, anyway, she did it and did it and did it and did it and did it and I told her. I said I'll tell you what. I think you're one of the bravest, smartest people that I've ever known. And I said because of that, I'm getting you a car. And she became a manager of a restaurant here in.
Speaker 2:Topeka and her family did well and still is today. But the point of that is so many barriers that we don't think about that, just get a job. And just to your point. Well, I ask you to introduce Isabel, and we kind of got off track there a little bit. I apologize, isabel, come back another time, will you? I'm still here, guys Okay.
Speaker 4:Isabel's here.
Speaker 1:I would love to introduce Ms Isabel Chronister.
Speaker 4:She is the director of trauma education and development and has been in that role for I feel like she accepted the position about a month ago and definitely it's been a transition period, because she came to us from the Hope Center and served as the assistant director there.
Speaker 1:And so yes, welcome. Has it really only been a month?
Speaker 4:I have no idea, I just threw that number out there.
Speaker 3:It's somewhere around there, that's rescue mission time. Isabel, I have no idea, I just threw that number out there.
Speaker 2:It's somewhere around there. That's rescue mission time, isabel. Right, isabel, thank you, and you've been on the podcast before as you were a director over at Hope Center or assistant director at Hope Center. You came as an intern, as it was said.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I came as an intern and that's where I fell head over heels for the mission and I really, really wanted a job after college. But the Lord had different plans.
Speaker 2:You mean you're not working now?
Speaker 1:Well, no, yeah, am I working, guys? I don't know.
Speaker 2:You live here too, right Lamena, yeah, pretty much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's slumber parties every night. And so, yeah, I've been learning a lot that the plans that I have for myself. Because after college I was like, okay, and I even told Courtney, I was like, yeah, this is how it's going to go, this is what it's going to look like. And the Lord lovingly said, actually I need you to do this first before you can do this. And so I ended up in Lawrence at First Step. It's an all women's rehab center. I was there for almost a year and then that's when I came back to the mission. Uh, and I was so excited, I I was looking online and I I remember the evening specifically, Um, and I had seen it, and I yelled for my roommates and I was like, guys, there's a position open at the mission.
Speaker 1:I'm applying right now. And so they yeah, they supported me through that, and I was at the Hope Center for a little over a year, and now I've been in this position for a month. Question mark. It feels like a lot longer, but in a good way.
Speaker 2:So going to Washburn University, you majored in psych, got your degree, did some work over in Lawrence a rehab program and interned here. Talk about how did you get connected with?
Speaker 1:Topeka Rescue Mission as an intern. Yeah, so actually the former trauma education director, cody she is a dear friend of mine.
Speaker 2:Who was an intern at one time as well. No, she was a volunteer. Yeah, she was a volunteer.
Speaker 1:And then she worked at the Hope Center a bit and then she got into this position. Right, she's a dear friend of mine. We have done a lot of life together, even though it's only been, I want to say, four or five years, but we have seen, yeah, a lot of ups and downs and she's helped me through a lot. And she kept telling me about interns that would be in this department and I was like, how do I become an intern? Can I be an intern please? And I kept bothering her for months. I would go over to her house and I was like, so have you asked, can I be an intern?
Speaker 1:And she was like girl. All you need to do is just apply an email like get connected.
Speaker 2:Do it yourself yeah.
Speaker 1:And I said, oh okay, so then I got connected. I believe Terry Hund was still here, it was in the midst of interns going from her to Courtney, and so I got connected. Yeah, basically through Cody Cody was my in.
Speaker 2:What did you do as an intern?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what did I do? I ate a lot of snacks. No, I'm. I actually I'm really passionate about it is we did kind of what I'm doing now. We did classes Now I'm going to say it in quotes but we went over the five B's of TBRI, which I always forget the fifth one. So Courtney's going to help me. It's brain, body, biology, belief system and behavior.
Speaker 2:No, I remember you got them. Wow, if Courtney's looking at you, you better.
Speaker 1:And so we took those and we just explained it to the guests. We made this little like informative sheet and then we paired it with an activity that also started with B, so we called it B&B. So some of it was bubble painting, which actually was one of my favorites because it did not work or we didn't execute it well. And my favorite was we had a gentleman on the men's side and I will remember him forever Because the next week he came back and he said I want to show you my bubble painting that it dried and it looks so cool, and he called it a gremlin and a rainbow, like from the movie Gremlins. It was the bubbles just made a perfect like gremlin shape and it was a colorful painting. So he called it Gremlin in a Rainbow. And then I think that week he showed it to us and then the week after that he told us that he was able to get a bus ticket to be with his family and they were somewhere on the East Coast.
Speaker 2:So what do you think the value of that was? Of spending time with him so he could do this grand mone painting?
Speaker 1:and then get a bus ticket. I mean, how does that connect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really just allowing someone to be heard, and that's also what I learned a lot at the Hope Center is that if you just give someone the opportunity to talk about something, whether it be a painting that they've done or how their day was, or just life like either past, current or what they're hoping for in life, if you just give them the opportunity of a few minutes now that like two minutes can turn into 30 minutes real quick but just giving them the opportunity to have a kind of adult conversation, and you don't see them as kind of like a thorn in your side, you know, kind of like something that's hard to look at, which oftentimes they feel that way because life puts them in that place.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and oftentimes that's how they feel about themselves. It's hard for them to look at themselves in a positive way, and so just being able to give them that listening ear, it's beautiful, because I've had so many conversations still today, whether it be in the TED department or at the Hope Center, that people are just like thank you for giving me the time to talk, because I didn't know that I needed it, but I did. And you just being like, hey, let's take a few minutes and let's go talk in my office, really, really made my day.
Speaker 2:Courtney is a certified practitioner in TBRI trust-based relational interventions that giving a person the voice is really important. Explain that Again. Homeless need a job. Get on with the program. Give you an extra number of days to stay here. What's the voice part of this? How does that help?
Speaker 4:Yeah, with trauma, a lot of times we lose our ability for self-efficacy of my voice matters. And so if I have experienced hurt or harm through a relationship, and over and over again, either my voice wasn't heard or it was devalued, or I was told it didn't make sense, or that was a wrong perspective, or you need to not say things this way, or this is actually what you should believe about yourself. Eventually, you believe the bad voices, right, and I think that that's true of all of us. We all have that the voice from the Lord and then we all have the enemy's voice that's trying to overshadow that and overpower that, and we have the choice to decide who am I listening to?
Speaker 4:And when people come to us, they might not be listening to the Lord's voice at that moment, and so giving opportunity to share your voice and having someone value that and pour into you and say these are the things that I believe about you and reaffirming the Lord's voice helps diminish the enemy's voice, and I think that that's our calling right Is to help them understand how to hear the voice of the Lord, and that's what's going to take them much further than us, because, like you said about the woman who wanted to stay here and live the rest of her life at the tupac rescue mission. People aren't going to stay with us forever, um, isabelle lamanda, courtney berry, like we're not going to always be with the individuals that come to us, so what are we leaving them with that they can take? Um, that doesn't run out. The Lord is the only thing that is in an exhaustible well. And so, and that starts with giving them a voice, because I have to feel valued enough to talk to you, and then trust is built, and then connection is built.
Speaker 2:And then I think some people understand, when you say the Lord hearing his voice, the value that he places on someone versus maybe what other voices or other people have said to them. Some people understand that and some people don't know what you're talking about. Unpack that. What does that mean? You know, if I'm going to look at it, just from the surface, I'm hearing voices. That's not what you're talking about.
Speaker 4:So no, not schizophrenia necessarily. Talking about how do we we all have that inner voice, I guess, is what I would. I would word it instead of saying, like the Lord, we all have our inner voice or our intuition and things that we we believe or think, really deciphering what those inner things are saying. Deciphering what those inner things are saying and the way to, in my opinion, the best way to bring it back to understand, like is this the voice of God or not, is his word. And studying his word and knowing his word is going to define yep, this is from the Lord or this is probably not from the Lord, and he gives us people, too, to be able to surround us and, um, help us understand, but I wouldn't say that that is better than going directly to his word.
Speaker 2:There's a message of condemnation that so many people feel in life. Um may have started when they were a small person, child, and continues on today and, uh, god's word um says something totally different than having that opportunity to hear that other opinion about who you are and then have people in their life like you guys. Lamanda, you obviously have been a champion of bringing a voice to the voiceless in the community. Talk about a little bit about how passionate you are about giving people a voice without a voice.
Speaker 3:That's not a passion of mine.
Speaker 2:Okay, it is.
Speaker 3:Um, that's why I'm getting some gray hairs. That's probably why my heart's not working right now.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I, I think the, I think the passion comes from two reasons. One, not a lot of people know my story, but I came from just some situations that have made me empathetic to people who are always considered the underdog, whether that's an underdog because of poverty, whether it's underdog because of mental illness, an underdog because of physical challenges, those kinds of things. And so I think even it's just been always important to me. I think it's just the way God has woven my heart. I think this passion to really give a voice to those who have been often muted by those who have power or those that are deemed elite, those that have money, that is a passion of mine, because it's the total opposite of the life Jesus lived. And so the last several years, just either because of God laying it on my heart to be in the word differently than I ever have been, because of the own, my own walks, with just things that I've gone through for the first time ever, where I was experiencing things that society would deem me either as a failure on or less than, or myself being succumbed to opinions, and so I think, whether it's what's been ingrained in me or just this walk that I'm walking with the Lord. It has caused me to really dive into who Jesus was and Jesus's ministry. And so when you look at his ministry from even just the choices and disciples to where, where Jesus went, what Jesus said, his parables, all of that None of that really aligns with how far we've gotten in society of who matters, what matters, what is argumentative, worthy or not. We're so far from that, and sometimes we're so far from that just because it's a fallen world, and sometimes we're so far from it in the name of religion. And so I'm not really sure why it's me for such a time as this, because it's also been one of the hardest things I've done is to advocate for people who sometimes don't even make good choices, right, but I am not called to advocate for what is popular, just like Jesus didn't walk the earth saying words that were popular. And so I'm not perfect.
Speaker 3:I have failed in this role many times, but the one thing that I think I have, maybe the only thing I have gotten right since taking this role, is we will not deviate from believing in Imago Dei, that we are made in his image, period, and that it is not up to us to determine if someone is too far gone. It is not up to us to determine if that person is supposed to be clean in that moment or not. It is not up to us for us to say that people shouldn't be able to camp on the grounds that are close to us. It's not up to us, and so I will continue as best as I humanly can flaws and all.
Speaker 3:Continue to guide, whether that is influential people, whether that is laws and legalism, whether that is conversations that I am mishearing in the grocery store or as I'm trying to eat breakfast out in public, when we are not looking at people as people and we're looking them as problems, and we do it as Christians or we do it as people who are just entitled either way. My Role here, until the Lord Tells Me Not To, is to go back to the life that Jesus lived, personalizing it with my own story, so that I'm not sitting on a throne somewhere telling people how we should live. I'm utilizing myself and knowing that that grace, that forgiveness, that redemption, that not walking in condemnation for myself, is available for everyone, regardless if they're under the bridge or not, and that is something that I am set out to do until the Lord tells me not to.
Speaker 2:You know, I think sometime and we don't have time for it today it would be good to walk out on a limb.
Speaker 3:I love the looks you give me, Barry, as we do these. I just wish people could see it.
Speaker 2:To talk about the difference between love and religion. A lot of folks who ended up at Topeka Rescue Mission are not unfamiliar with the Bible and church or Islam or some other religion, but have been hurt, and so there is a big difference between us thinking we're the judge we're not and us being a vehicle or an instrument of Christ's love to help people to know that the judge loves them and that he's got a plan for them in their life. And I think that one of my biggest challenges when I was in your role, amanda, was, yes, this is a gospel rescue mission, but it's not a religious institution that judges people to try to get them to conform to a certain thing. It is absolutely not that at all, but yet it gets put in one package because there has been some of that with some other situations and other experiences that people have had, and so not that everybody who says I'm religious is judgmental, but I think if we were asked Jesus what was his religion, if he was here with us right now, he would go I'm not religious.
Speaker 2:There's a difference between relationship and religion, and I think this would be good to unpack that someday of the things that have been assumed, because this is a Christian ministry, that it is one that's trying to get people to conform to a certain thing, and we are not the ones that do the conforming. God loves people into his way of doing things, and so anyway, yeah, I kind of digress there jumped out on a limb, but I really think we'd like to take that on. Josh, put that down sometime if you would. So let's go out on that limb, sounds good.
Speaker 3:And I think it's important, you know, barry, as we think about just the work that Courtney and Isabel and I mean every department, but particularly in the area of of this trauma approach, we it really goes back to one people centered Christ centered, people centered Christ centered, and so the trauma piece and that's why I really do think in our near future I can see the Lord possibly moving towards us rebranding some where trauma intervention or trauma transformation, trauma healing is a part of our third prong, just like feeding and sheltering, I agree.
Speaker 3:Because there is not one of us that walks this earth without trauma. If that was the case, he wouldn't have need to die on the cross and rise again, so that we would have an option. He knew not only were we going to cause traumatic things, but traumatic things were going to happen to us, and so what I love about this is the trauma interventions and the learning and the brain and the neuroscience. It is all practical and people centered. But the other side of this is we're so adamant to educate but then to say, yes, this is what your body is capable of doing, this is what your brain does. But then there is this component that also says and there is a creator that is after you, wanting to love you, wanting to protect you, all of these things. And I will say, barry, I have learned more about the principles of Christ in my three years of being at this rescue mission Then I have From being saved at eight years old.
Speaker 3:And it is not about Making sure there's nothing wrong with it, but it is not about making sure you have your Sunday dress on and your Sunday suit on, and it is not about coming together and being quiet, why a pastor preaches to you and leaving.
Speaker 3:It's not, and it is about seeing what has been deemed the least of these right or the poor in spirit, those kinds of things, and recognizing that applies to you Just because we might be more well-rounded, maybe more healed from some of the trauma, like we still need the information that comes from trauma-informed care and knowledge. And you better believe we all need to be understanding who Christ really was and is, because it is a time for us to really be getting rid of and shedding traditions and different things that we have made up that have no Christ based. And then the other side of this is, and you better believe, those principles that he showed us accountable to walking the walk and talking the talk, and I think I have learned more about Christ's love for myself and others, being in this environment With people that have nothing to give but themselves and recognizing that themselves is more than enough, and that's incredible and you can't understand that unless you do it.
Speaker 2:Isabel and Courtney, you just heard LaManda say that this area of trauma is not probably going to be looked at in the future as just another thing we do at Topeka Rescue Mission. It is major at Topeka Rescue Mission. It is major, it is maybe one of the pillars of Topeka Rescue Mission because of its tie-in to understanding the people that are being ministered to here and then not only understanding them, but having some unique tools to help them to heal. What does that say to you, Courtney? You've been in this arena for a while as Bill, you're new into this particular part of the arena. Does that scare you? Does that excite you, Does that like? What does it make you think?
Speaker 4:than anything. I truly think that for us to continue to like, serve people to the best of our ability LaManda says it all the time you know better, you do better. And if we know better, then let's do better. And we know that trauma is a component that we need to be addressing, just like food and shelter. Then let's do it and let's have people see their value and let's not be the ones to throw the first stone, because we're not without sin either.
Speaker 4:We are broken and imperfect people on both sides, Whether it's the person serving or the person being served. Both are imperfect. Jesus is the only one that came and did it perfectly and gave us that example to strive for, to want to be like. But we're going to fail and I would say overall, it excites me and I pray that the Lord would use it for his will to bring people unto him. And, like you said, we can't make someone transform um their life. That is 100% um on the Lord and that's such a weight lifted off of us, right Like we are called to do the work that we're called to do, and then we don't have to hold the weight of, oh, this person didn't change and it's my fault, that's, it's not on us.
Speaker 4:Um it's the Lord who changes hearts, and we can't even take credit for ourselves of like, oh boy, I cleaned up my life, so I'm. No, that is the Lord that cleaned up my life. And when you're human, you walk and you're like crud, like my life's not as clean as I thought it was, and you slip and you fall, and the Lord is gracious and he helps you back up, um, and he's tender and he's kind, but he is a judge, Um, and he's a God of justice, um, at the same time. And so it it's an inexplainable love that I I don't know if I will ever be able to fully comprehend. Um, as a human, but as a mother, there's nothing that I would not do for my children and there's nothing that the Lord won't chase down or intervene for you.
Speaker 4:And Jesus's ministry is the perfect one to look at of who he came after first. The first person that he revealed himself to as the Messiah, as he opened up his ministry and began that three-year time frame, was a woman who had been with several different men and married several different times and wasn't married to the one at the time that she was with, and Jesus chose her. So what does that say to us of who are we going after?
Speaker 2:Well said, well said. Isabel, as we wrap up here today you're new into this, been a month into this new position in the trauma education, development, intervention and so forth. Hearing this conversation being new in this arena, what does this say to you?
Speaker 1:in this arena. What does this say to you? Just that it's such like a wonderful opportunity that we have not only in this department, but as are high as a kite lashing out against you, or they are just asking you for an ear and a meal, and that's I call the Hope Center and the mission as a whole wonderfully chaotic because it is so it's such a whirlwind but it's so giving. At the same time, it's so joyful. And there's this one unsheltered neighbor that I just think of constantly. And it's about meeting where people are at. And I'm such a hugger. I love hugs. I will give you a hug, but if you tell me no, I will respect that.
Speaker 1:And so I asked her because you know she had came up to the gate and she was just a mess and she goes Isabel, I'm going to die out here. And I said let's not talk like that, like we have the people who love you enough to get you to the resources that you need to be on your feet and have your own house. And I said is it okay if I give you a hug? And she said, no, I'm not much of a hugger. And I said okay, and I'll remember this always. I stuck out my finger, my index finger, and I said, okay, then we'll just, you know, put our fingers together and that can be our hug. And so every time I saw her she would always hang out um close to the mission, close to the Hope Center, and I made sure that if I was going in between shelters I went out of my way to go give her that hug.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that finger hug Um and I hadn't seen her in a while. And I hadn't seen her in a while and I just saw her last week and she was in pretty rough shape. I know she had been in and out of the hospital and she looked at me and she said I don't know how much longer I have. And I said well, with the time that you do have, I'm going to love you and I want you to know that the Lord loves you. And I stuck out my finger again and she looks at me and she always does this like scoff kind of.
Speaker 4:And that's her way of showing love, like rolling her eyes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, she'll go.
Speaker 1:And she goes. You know I haven't done the finger hug. She was like I haven't done that for anyone, yet You're the only person I do that for and I said thank you. That means a lot.
Speaker 1:And so just that we are all made beautifully by the Lord, no matter what stage of life that we're in, and he calls us sons and daughters and he calls us worthy, and it doesn't matter where in that transformation part of our life that we're in, that we just get to share the simple gospel of knowing that Jesus died for us and that we get to have relationship with him and that those of us that work here get to be that steward. Really we get to show people that don't know who Christ is truly, who they are or or who he is and who they are in Him. I think of butterflies a lot and I won't go on this tangent very long, but I've had a lot of self-growth, not only working here for the year and a few months it's been, but also just within the past couple months. I've had such beautiful growth inside myself and I know my value again.
Speaker 1:That's something I've always struggled with, and so I am so excited because I know, I know what my value is in the Lord and I am confident and I can be like, yes, this is me, this is Isabel, and I so desperately want to share that with others. And the Lord really kind of molds us. We always use you know like clay and gold, and how he refines us. But I think a beautiful way to describe it is like butterflies. They start out as little caterpillars and they eat and then they just make their little chrysalis and then they turn into butterflies and it's something beautiful and it's something new from that caterpillar. Something new from that caterpillar and that, um, when we get to know the lord and when we get to further our knowledge, and our love for him.
Speaker 1:Um, he makes us into butterflies, um, and yeah, I want to plant that seed, um, within the guests and the unsheltered neighbors, but also the staff, because we all know the Lord in some way, shape or form, like you said. But if it was a bad seed that was planted, then it's not going to be fruit that grows from that person. So if we replant that seed and showing them that they have a voice, replant that seed and showing them that they have a voice, they have a worth in the Lord and that he loves them and will cherish them forever, to the ends of the earth, that they will turn into this beautiful thing.
Speaker 2:And I lost all of my train of thought, but so we're going to end it with that Great way to end. Isabel, courtney, amanda, thank you for sharing your hearts today. I think we were intending to maybe go a different direction with this today, but we went the direction the Lord wanted to go in regards to the value that God places on us, and maybe you're somebody who's listening today that's saying how do I even make a difference in this world? And sometimes it can be just with one finger of reaching out to somebody and maybe it's not literally a finger, but it's a smile or it's a good word or possibly just being in that person's life to when they're going through their thing, and everybody's going through it. You don't have to be homeless or hungry or poor or whatever to be going through a thing, just to be there for them.
Speaker 2:And so if you have been in part of Topeka Rescue Mission, you know a lot about this way that things are done. And if you've been volunteering here or working here, you know that this is a transformational place. That's why we call it Transformational Services, courtney, here at Topeka Rescue Mission, because God's in the business of transforming us. And so if you haven't experienced that yet and you'd like to know more information about the Topeka Rescue Mission, you can go to the website at trmonlineorg. That's trmonlineorg figure a way to volunteer, maybe connect in a way, helping support through Christmas, as there's a list there of different needs as well as financially giving. And so thank you for listening to our community, our mission, and remember God loves you and you can be a vessel of his love even with one finger anger.