common bonds

August 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The following was written by one of our most active and helpful volunteers, Becky Davis. She recently developed a close relationship with a family that HFH had been helping – below she shares her unique story and experience.

My husband Tucker and I were introduced to Habitat for Hope from some friends at Fellowship Memphis. It seemed like a great opportunity for us to serve others who were experiencing some variation of what we went through. Tucker was diagnosed with leukemia in April of 2006. The hospital gets scary, boring, and exhausting. We were blessed to have Jesus’ presence and many other people who frequently brought CD’s, DVDs, real food, and just came by to pray or chat. He is well now and in remission! When we heard about Habitat for Hope and their ministry to serve displaced families and their sick children we were excited to get involved.

Recently, I was able to meet and minister to one of our new families, Amy and her daughter Layla. Layla has been in Memphis to be treated for a rare brain infection. Amy was very grateful for Habitat for Hope – the meals, the prayers, and the talks. I was grateful to hear her positive perspective that God has a great plan for her child. And He does!

Habitat for Hope has been a great reminder of how God uses the body of Christ to minister in a variety of ways in order to show Christ’s love. Thank you Habitat for Hope!

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Filed Under: Families and Friends, We Love Tagged With:

Hope in Memphis

May 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I know you’ve been waiting for a detailed update on the ladies retreat! Forgive me for my lateness – Mark and I are actually in Fort Myers, FL this week reconnecting with old friends and giving updates to our supporting churches down here.
For me, the best part of the ladies retreat was sharing the weekend with so many HFH moms that I have grown to love. We shared meals together, prayed together (the second night we prayed till 3am!) and laughed and shared stories. I have heard from several of the women that walls were broken down and healing was started or continued in many hearts. Probably the best way to recount the weekend is in the words of a few of the moms that were there.

…I was so grateful for the opportunity to share with Habitat for Hope, Fellowship Memphis & other moms last weekend. I left the revival feeling refreshed and revived from sharing, praying and worshipping with my sisters in Christ. I also gained a new prayer partner for the two by two ministries for the praying for Memphis!

…you had to be there in order to explain it. I just want to say that the holy spirit rain in that place and I was able to be myself in the presence of the lord and be honest with myself and the lord and knowing that you are not alone regardless of what you are going through you still have friends like Jesus and mrs. melissa and all the other women that were on the retreat with us.I just want to thank god for all of my new friends, thank you all so much.

…thanks again for an incredible weekend, I came home refreshed and exhausted. It was so wonderful to meet some amazing women and get to know the ones I already knew a little better. I hope everyone is doing well, and is enjoying the season that they are in now a little better now that we were taught by Priscilla to enjoy the season. I kept counting down the rounds of chemo my son has left, thinking I just can’t wait for it to be done. But now I am trying to appreciate what we are going through now and when the next season comes I will be thrilled, but I won’t have regrets that I didn’t enjoy what I am going through now. It was great to be with women that understands what I am going through as a mother, wife, Christian, and friend. I found that many of us just don’t have the support at home from people that truly understand.

My sincere thanks to all of you that were a part of making this weekend happen – our donors for making it possible, Tona Ottinger, Missy Taylor and Heather McGugan for their help, and of course my sweet husband for giving me the time I needed to work on this and praying over me the whole way.

Filed Under: Encouragement, Families and Friends, We Love Tagged With:

What are you reading?

January 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Believe it or not, Mark’s on deck with our next HFH blog post. In the meantime, I thought it’d be fun to share what’s currently on the Horrocks’s nightstands.

Mylissa:

  • It by Craig Groeschel
  • Have a New Kid by Friday by Kevin Leman
  • Deeper than Tears: Promises of Comfort and Hope
  • My Love by Mark Horrocks (a little photo book Mark made me for Christmas)

Mark:

  • Tribes by Seth Godin
  • L’Abri by Edith Shaeffer (well, this one’s on the floor)
  • The Father Connection by Josh McDowell
  • Ask Vance by Vance Lauderdale (fun Memphis history book)
  • several issues of Time, Relevant and Gourmet

Mark and I love to read. I particularly love to have at least one novel started. What are you reading? Leave us a comment and let us know.

Filed Under: We Love Tagged With:

IKEA=Together?

October 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Ok guys…this should be filed under ‘random thoughts’. Here goes.

The theme for Catalyst 2008 was “together”. The idea was to celebrate pushing toward unity in the body of Christ, and to help the church think about the possibilities of relieving suffering all over the world when we act united.

So Mark and I visited the Atlanta IKEA today. Nothing shocking there; we usually make a trip when we are near one. After a while, Mark remarked, “You know, IKEA has done a phenomenal job creating product that is desired across racial lines, cultural lines, and even the old people like it!” As we looked around the store for the remainder of our visit, we realized we were surrounded with African Americans, Indians, singles, married people, Muslms, Middle Eastern people, people advanced in age, Asians…and the list goes on. We began to ask questions of each other. I suggested that it could possibly be because the product line is not typically American. Mark suggested that price was a factor. I thought that maybe it’s a correlation, since many IKEAs are located in major cities (where the population is more diverse). But then I realized, most of the people in my life appreciate goods from IKEA, whether they are located anywhere near one or not.

As I was thinking about this, I realized a few things. You know, IKEA’s designers and manufacturers are paid well, and employed mainly in first-world countries. The quality remains high and the cost remains low. They also create their product with environmentally sustainable methods. Green is the name of the game for IKEA. They have recycling bins in the store for everything from eyeglasses to cell phones…

And 4 months ago, they began offering an immediate 3% credit back to all customers that use a debit card. They are essentially rewarding us for paying cash.

I have no idea whether any of the managing partners of IKEA are believers. But it occurs to me that they have somehow managed to reward our thoughtful financial choices, profit humanity (low cost, recycling programs, living wages), the earth (green practice) and bring us together. Interesting.

Filed Under: Things

Funeral Arrangements for Mark’s Dad

August 26, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Gary Allen Horrocks

May 19, 1943-August 25, 2008

Arrangements by Stevenson-Dougherty Funeral Home, Avon, NY.

Viewing Friday August 29, 2008 2-4pm and 7-9pm.

Service at St. Agnes Church; Avon NY. Saturday August 30th, 11am burial following.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to Habitat for Hope.

Habitat for Hope will provide a beautiful flower arrangement for the service.

Mylissa and I are so thankful for the love and prayers during this time, as is the entire Horrocks family.

Filed Under: Families and Friends, We Love
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