The women we have the privilege of serving teach us of the Lord’s faithfulness. They are beautiful, strong, brave, tender, wise and wonderful women. They display courage and humility with the way they have chosen to live. Many are in the process of healing and becoming whole from very difficult and painful circumstances. They show us a side of the Lord’s relentless love towards those who seek to walk in His ways. Most of our clients have children at home – often raising them without financial or emotional support. They teach us perseverance. They exhibit their dependency and trust in a God who is an ever present help in their time of need. These are the women we are blessed to journey with and honored to know.

Through your generous gifts, you too are a part of building into their future and their hope - Thank you!

I literally felt my heart “turning.”  Almost as an act of repentance.  Turning from profound grief and loss, anger and doubt, paralyzing fear and bitterness, numbness and self sufficiency.  Turning from death to life – as if being raised from the dead – a newness of life! Turning towards a place of greater rest, greatest trust, greater healing.  I am wondering if He is actually going to give me my whole heart back.  If so, it is yet to be seen what life will look like, as I have not had a whole heart in a very, very long time.   I might have to learn to live again. Does my heart still mourn that my marriage ended in divorce? Yes. Do I still desire a husband and companion? Yes.  Am I still lonely? Yes.  I was not created to live alone, but rather to share life with a man of God’s choosing. Do I live with the consequences of a broken marriage and the responsibility of single parenting?  Almost daily.  But the deep anguish and sorrow of my heart is changing …  To something beautiful. To something hopeful. To something new.

The night before God had me read Ephesians 2.  “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead.” My heart, or at least part of it, had “died” for so many reasons. As I sat in our car shop giving thanks to the God I am coming to know, He changed me.  Just like that. Like a gift. Completely and utterly given by grace.  “…that He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”  This is God’s gift of grace to me.  A heart that is being transformed.  By no work of my own – so that I may not boast!  A heart that can truly say I am thankful for this season in my life.  This season of being single.  I am learning to bend my will a little bit faster to His will.  I am experiencing a glimpse of the joy that comes from depending on Him, and not in myself.  I am coming to trust in His provision, His protection, and His great and glorious love.  

Recently the Lord has been telling me,” In the twinkling of an eye, things will change.”  He has been speaking this to me over and over.  I had no idea what He was talking about.  I looked it up today: “Listen, I tell you a mystery. … In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet … the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. … Where, O death is your victory?  Where O death is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But Thanks Be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  1 Corinthians 15:51-56 . This dear ones, is the Jesus we celebrate this Christmas.  He has conquered death!  And in the twinkling of an eye, we are changed.  Here on this earth, and someday forever in eternity with Him.  Thanks be to God.   If God, by His great love and mercy and grace, can transform my hardened, wounded heart to a place of being thankful for this time of being single, then He is able to raise the “dead” in all of us! Jesus is the kindest person I know.  He is able to make all things work together for good.  All things.  For good. Our good; the good of others; and above all – for His glory!  This holy Christmas season I pray you discover once again the wonder of having faith in the One who came to set us all free.  He might just have a Christmas miracle for you as well!    

Hands Automotive, Inc. (for now called Colorado Auto-Tech)
1510 Kendall Street, Lakewood, CO 80214 (Colfax & Kendall)
Ph: 303.233.8780 Web: www.coloradoautotech.com

The six bay service center provides a full range of automotive repair and maintenance services to the public. The shop and the resources it generates will eventually lower repair costs and help expand services for single mothers and widows in need. This truly is a dream come true. Through the process of many people joining hands in prayer and anticipation, we have seen the Lord’s provision in ways that we could not have even thought or imagined. Our excitement is matched by very grateful and thankful hearts for all the blessings God has poured out – on His dream , and on our dream, and on your dream. A way to serve the public with a trust worthy and reliable auto shop, which will enable us to serve even more single parents and widows who are in need.

Please come visit! Say hello to Ray and Sean—the two newest members of the Hands team! Tell your friends, neighbors and co-workers about the shop! Everyone who uses the shop will be providing Hope and Care for a client. We all should rejoice over what the Lord has done – and will do—through many of you!

The Rodeo - A Father's Day for the fatherless

To follow through with the purchase we need to finish raising the funds. At this point, we are short $25,000 from having all funds needed to cover the purchase and initial operating expenses. Would you, your church, or your business please consider being a part of this final step in “Driving Towards The Dream”?

As an Enterprise Zone Project, financial gifts to Hands of The Carpenter receive a state tax credit equal to 25% of the gift.

Check out www.eHands.org/driving for updates and to help make the dream a reality through an online gift an many other ways!

We are meeting with some of our clients in small groups for support and encouragement. These times are filled with laughter, love, and tears – the sharing of hopes and dreams, breaking bread together, and fears and needs that are committed to prayer. One of our single parents with two children needed to move because of a very difficult living situation with relatives. As she shared, we prayed for her to find a new “resting place” for her family. One of the other women came to help clean her current place before she moved out – and to then clean the new home before they moved in. Single parents walking along side one another. Learning how to give their gifts to those in need, and learning how to receive from those who offer a hand in love.

It is a beautiful privilege to serve those God brings our way –thank you for your support and your care for the widow!

I challenge you to look around your world today. Who are the single parents and children without fathers in your extended family? Your community? Your place of business? Your church? Take time to reach out in love and in service to those in need – you will be blessed if you do!

HELPING SINGLE MOMS
“I’m trying to help the Widows and the single moms though encouraging notes and helping them not feel lonely. My plan is for you to find them at your churches and talk to them and encourage them to not be stressful and lonely. So, if you have any questions please call George. We will be happy to answer all your questions. If you want a reference, please call Juli.”

What a beautiful reminder that God hears the cries of our hearts, He sees our needs, and to never give up in prayer.  Luke 18:1-8

"STILL", by Jody Tucker

Proclamation 5166 - National Single Parent Day, 1984
March 21, 1984

By the President of the United States of America - Ronald Reagan
A Proclamation

Before they are eighteen, about half of our Nation's children will have lived part of their lives with a single parent who strives to fill the role of both mother and father.

Many single parents in America are making valiant efforts on behalf of their children under trying circumstances. Whether it is a deserted spouse forced to work and care for children simultaneously, or a spouse who is not receiving child support that has been awarded by a court, or an unwed mother who has bravely foregone the all-too-available option of abortion, or a widow or widower, single parents deserve our recognition and appreciation for their demonstrated dedication to their young.

At the same time, we should also recognize the vital and ongoing role a large percentage of non-custodial parents play in the nurturing process of their offspring. Their sacrifices, devotion, and concern reflect the bonds of caring for those they have brought into this world.

Single parents can and do provide children with the financial, physical, emotional, and social support they need to take their places as productive and mature citizens. With the active interest and support of friends, relatives, and local communities, they can do even more to raise their children in the best possible environment.

The Congress, by H.J. Res. 200, has designated March 21, 1984, as "National Single Parent Day" and has requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of that day.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim March 21, 1984, as National Single Parent Day. I call on the people of the United States to recognize the contributions single parents are making, sometimes under great hardships, to the lives of their children, and I ask that they volunteer their help, privately or through community organizations, to single parents who seek it to meet their aspirations for their children.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:13 a.m., March 22, 1984]

It has now been a month since our Game of LIFE banquet but the theme isn't leaving my mind.  For those who were unable to be there - here is why it was named so. 

In one way or another, whether practically, spiritually, purposefully or otherwise, we are all playing the game of LIFE.  Yes...remember the game some of us grew up with?  The small cars, the pegs, the spinner?  We all start the game from the same general place.  Most people have dreams for how they would like for their life to play out.  Some common dreams many share are going to school, getting a good job and starting a family among others.

During the 'game', we make some decision which affect our dreams.  We also intentionally go one way or the other.  Other times, still, we intend to go one direction but one spin takes us somewhere else.  That is the place in life many of the single moms and widows we serve come to our doors. At the moment, they find themselves either lost in the game or in a part of the game they did not wish to go.

During the banquet, we had some "game cards" at each table which [we hope] helped share some of the decisions that our clients have to make - sometimes on a daily basis.  Here they are...take a few moments.  What are your answers?

• How much did you spend on your most recent car repair?
• Your only car just broke down...how will you get to work tomorrow?
• Have you ever felt taken advantage of at a car repair shop?
• Do you know any single parents or widows in need?
• You are a single parent of three and you have to be at work by 7:00 am... how do you get your kids to school at 8:00am?
• You only have $300 in your bank account…You have $75.00 in bills to be paid; Your kids need new school supplies your car brakes are down to the rotors.  Do you buy school supplies for your kids or repair your car?
• Your husband of thirty years just died and he always took care of the car repairs. You just took your car in for an oil change and they are telling you that your transmission is bad... Where do you go and who can you trust?
• $750 is due for rent next week and your car is inoperable with estimated repairs of $675.00. You just got a new job across town and you will lose it if you can’t get there...What do you do? 

For the single parents and widows we have the pleasure of serving, an inoperable car can mean the difference of getting their kids to school or not.  The car allows the to get to work.  Without a car, many times a job is lost, without a job, rent/mortgages cannot be paid and without that - homelessness.  Two-thirds of all homeless families are women and their children.

We have the incredible opportunity to offer a "do-over" spin from time to time in the lives of these dear women - what a blessing that is for us collectively.  Being a small part of a chapter in their lives is like a ministry to us at Hands.