Peace in the Quarantine

Hi y’all!  It’s Roxy, another part of the AHM staff. I’m over community partnerships and love meeting with our partners throughout the Los Angeles area!

Hope y’all are blessing yourselves and filling your home with goodness in this time. It’s hard. It’s easy to binge watch Netflix and it can be hard to open ya Bible or do whatever you need to keep yourself in high spirits. For me some days have been great and others not so much.

Over and over again I have heard the story of Mark 4:35-41 told in a variety of perspectives during quarantine. In verse 35 Jesus says, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” Then Jesus and His disciples hopped in a boat and started heading that way but a storm arose. Verses 38-40 say, “But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die? He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?”

We gotta trust God that even in the storm we’re gunna get to the other side. Being anxious and feeling all the emotions during this time is human and normal. With God we have the ability to find peace in this storm. Somehow in surrender I believe we have the ability to lay down on a pillow besides Jesus and find rest in the stern of the ship.

I’ve been doing all kinds of self care activities during quarantine so if you need some ideas I got you! Here’s what I’ve been up to:

1. BAKING BREAD. You know quarantine is real when you find me in the kitchen. Ok but seriously I don’t ever want to buy a loaf from the store again. Recipe: https://leitesculinaria.com/99521/recipes-jim-laheys-no-knead-bread.ht

2. Dalgona coffee. For all my coffee lovers this is the new wave of trendy coffee to try. Ya it takes like 20 minutes to whip up but we got time now right? Here’s a how to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hixQ_-VtElM 

3. Connecting. I’ve been using Houseparty to play games with friends every week. It’s an app where you can facetime & play a game at the same time: https://houseparty.com 

4. Podcasts. My mind goes wild if I don’t fill it with good news. So I listen to uplifting podcasts during the day to help guide my mind to dwell on good things. My fav is Thirty minutes with The Perrys: https://theperryspodcast.libsyn.com

Much love to y’all! Please send in prayer requests if you have any and our team will cover you.

A Gathering of Fierce Women

I’ve needed more time to process last week’s outreach because it was unlike any outreach I’ve experienced before. I felt God’s presence on the track so strongly, I know I caught a glimpse of his healing work in South LA. I want to start by giving praise to God because he’s the reason After Hours exists. He keeps our small organization going. He provides what we need so we can show up and love the women we meet through outreach every week. He gives each of us the strength we need to carry this unique burden. But he also asks us to carry it loosely, trusting that he is working, even if we never see how the seeds we plant will bloom. It’s hard, but I’m grateful that God is the one in control and not us.

Last outreach was so beautiful and such a contrast to the week prior. I showed up expecting it wouldn’t be any different from the others recently, but God had other plans. We were just three, but we gave away 27 gift bags—more than double the amount we gave the week before. We experienced so many obstacles to meet with women that week. During our prayer time, I prayed for a friend who’s been on my mind, hoping to run into her; but admittedly, I already felt defeated. I’ve experienced friends disappear before, and I thought this may have happened with her because we hadn’t seen her the week before.

God is faithful still.

We arrived at the block where she normally is, but we didn’t see her from the car. There were other women out, so we parked and walked over to them. As soon as we got to the corner, she popped out! We were all so excited to see each other. We told her we were hoping and praying we’d see her.

Amidst the many cars driving by and pulling up to us, we talked for a long time. One-by-one, her friends joined us until there was a gathering of us women, each with her own unique story of hardship, yet perseverance. At some point, I noticed the cars weren’t coming anymore, and we were able to be a gathering of fierce women standing together, laughing together, praying together, and embracing each other. I wish I could have seen what passersby saw. We were crossing all the divides to be friends, to be community. 

I drove home full of joy and hope, not at all tired even though it was 2:30am. This is what After Hours is about, loving God and loving our neighbors on the track, creating a safe space for these women to be themselves free of judgment and shame. If any of the women we meet during outreach comes across this, never give up hope, keep fighting, because God loves you dearly, and so do we. —Sam