Miracle Moments
Brought to you by: Community Partner Molly Maid of Birmingham, www.mollymaid.com/birmingham
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20
“The greatest ‘thank you’ that I can ever hope to give to Big Oak Ranch in return for what it has given me is to raise a generation that will never need the Ranch for themselves but will have hearts and hands to maybe one day serve it in some capacity for those, like their mama, that finds Home through its gates.” These were the final words that closed Amanda’s “A Life Changed Story” that was shared just last summer with her Big Oak Ranch family. Little did she know that her teenage daughter Gracelyn (or “G” as she is lovingly referred to) was already feeling a pull to do just that.
While preparations were in motion for the Big 50th last year, Amanda inquired about G helping out on the volunteer team; “is there anything you might need G’s help for? She mentioned that she thought it would be fun to get to come up early if you guys needed her.” The answer was an easy yes, and G was officially added to the Volunteer list. Amanda and G met the Big Oak Ranch team early in the morning of our 50th Celebration and P21 Rodeo. We were expecting a sleepy teenager. Instead, G was bright-eyed and ready to work. At the Boys’ Ranch, G met our Experience Team and other volunteers, quickly jumping in. When the Big Oak Reunion and Rodeo came around, she paused the busy life of a teenager to take on tasks for the sake of her Big Oak Ranch family.
It’s a special moment when former residents come home to be involved. To have a Big Oak Ranch grandchild come home is another feeling. When those like Gracelyn, come ready to be “boots on the ground,” that surpasses a success story. That’s a generational curse truly broken. A chasm created behind the years of pain and suffering their parents endured and the stark contrast of the life they have been given as their children. That’s God declaring that what the enemy meant for harm was not only going to be turned for good in the life of Amanda, but that He would further use her children as another tool to rewrite the stories of our current children. That’s the point of this all. That’s the mission. That’s what we wake up every morning striving for. †
