Making All Things New

CBN.com "I just want to say thank you because you’ve made my life much, much better than it ever was before."

Christmas, 2004, was the best ever for Iris, her brothers and sister, and her mother, Tamaria – thanks to Tamaria’s church and Operation Blessing!

"It was through the Refuge and through Operation Blessing that I was able to use the holiday vouchers to provide a wonderful Christmas," Tamaria explains. "We were excited."

One thing made this Christmas very special was that the family spent it in their own home! For 13 years, Tamaria and her children lived in shelters, in hotel rooms, and even in a car.

"I would sleep in the car and go to the laundry. You wouldn’t know we were homeless because I kept them looking the way they were supposed to look."

Tamaria was a wife and mother by the time she was 17 years old. Her troubles began when her marriage fell apart.

"We tried to make it work," she remembers. "But we ended up not making it work. He went his way. I went my way, and we ended up becoming homeless."

But eventually things began to change for Tamaria. Through a program at a shelter, she met Bishop Ronald and Dr. Phyllis Carter, pastors of Refuge Apostolic Church of Christ.

"It was Dr. Carter and Bishop Carter who said, 'O.K., this is what we need to do. We need to get you some food.' And they did."

The food that fed Tamaria and her children came from Operation Blessing.

"We get our help from Operation Blessing and we pass it on," Bishop Carter explains. "In this case, we passed the food on to Tamaria."

Again, in partnership with Operation Blessing, Tamaria’s new church gave her back-to-school vouchers for her kids.

"We were ecstatic," Tamaria raves. "They had brand new clothes, they had brand new supplies, they had brand new books -- they had everything that they needed for the school year."

"We had never had our own clothes," says Iris, "it was always like passed down to us and given to us. Not that that’s a problem, but sometimes you want stuff that’s brand new. And you want it for you."

When Tamaria needed access to a computer to prepare resumes and find a place to live, Operation Blessing, through her church, supplied just what she needed.

"They allowed us to come in and look, get on the computer, and do our housing search.
I couldn’t have gotten it done without them."

Tamaria is proud to support her family with her new job as a school bus driver. Because of your prayers and financial support, Operation Blessing helps thousands of people like Tamaria and her family every day.

"If it was not for Bishop Carter, Mother Carter, the Refuge family, and Operation Blessing, I would be dead. It was through all of these support systems that enabled me to be where I am now."

As a CBN partner, you do make a difference in the lives of hurting people like Tamaria throughout the world. If you are not a partner, please join today. Your gifts make it possible to provide medical care to those in desperate need, help feed and clothe children here at home and overseas, and broadcast a message of hope around the world. Join today!