One of the first official duties I took on when I joined the team at Freedom Shield Foundation was working the intake phone. Working intake meant trying to mitigate the urgency and distress of the voice on the other end of the line while also trying to make sure that I was gathering all of the necessary information required before our team could move forward. If you have never worked intake before, just imagine trying to drink water from a fire hose. There are many moving parts to consider such as medical needs, legal issues, physical limitations, the security level involved, and a myriad of other logistics involved. Oh, and did I mention that there is a life of a human being to be taken into consideration?
The intake phone is an impersonal entity and didn’t care whether I was in the throws of fielding multiple cases. It did not stop ringing or receiving messages from organizations and survivors that are in need of help. And whether it was a non-profit or a woman hoping for help on the line, there was a sense of urgency that felt like crushing pressure until I was able to give an affirmative response. Regardless of how stressful a situation felt in the moment, I knew that prayer was not something that I could forsake. In fact, prayer is what kept me from making decisions or choices that could have been costly for our organization.
I learned that I could check all the boxes and make sure that everything looked good on paper, but none of that mattered if I did not take the time to seek God throughout the process. There are also instances where human processes did not seem favorable and prayer revealed otherwise.
There is wisdom in having procedures and policies in place to help facilitate the intake process as there are many factors that must be considered to keep the program running safe for all involved. My experience is that when the process only allows room for protocol to be followed, it is easy to miss where God is asking you to move.
Prayer was not limited to just the team member working intake. The entire team would take the time to pray, especially when there was a case that was particularly challenging or unclear. In those cases we would not move until we had clear direction from God. Prayer helped to keep our team in a place of unity and peace, which ultimately helped us to better serve the women that God called to the house.
I would love to hear thoughts or stories about the challenges that have become wins because of answered prayer from you.
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