“Please God, open this door for me”
A call to Julia’s changed Rae’s life
“Lord, show me what to do!”
Rae felt like this was her last, desperate plea for help. As she prayed, she was dialing the number of the Julia Greeley Home. But she didn’t have much hope. The decade has been brutal for the longtime wife and mother. Her 35 years’ of stability as a military wife ended when she and her husband divorced several years ago. Then one of her sons was murdered. In shock, the family’s life was shattered.
Since 2016, left without resources and unable to afford Colorado’s sky-high rents, Rae has moved from a succession of motels, rooming houses, and shelters, each one a locus of drugs and illegal activities, and each one more dangerous than the last.
Rae, in her 60’s, who has never taken drugs or alcohol, was terrified to go to sleep at night. What’s more, the constant moving and upheaval left her exhausted and drained of hope.
“I felt deserted and helpless,” she says. “Being homeless for me was catastrophic. I never dreamed it would happen to me.”
Then one day, an agency gave her the number of the Julia Greeley Home.
“I was on my knees as the phone was ringing,” she says. “I didn’t know what I was going to do if this didn’t work.”
Instead, she was invited for an interview, and a few days before Thanksgiving 2019, Rae joined the Julia Greeley Home.
Since then, Rae has found not only hope, but a future. First she found a church where she has made good friends. She joined a grief counseling group to help her handle the heavy weight of her son’s death. And she’s planning to pursue a new volunteering position as a caregiver for the elderly.
To cap everything, shortly after the first of the year Rae learned her application for an apartment was accepted. Within coming weeks she will move into her new home.
Rae shakes her head to think of what life was like when every day she woke to the same desperate question: “Where will I sleep tonight, and will I be safe there?”
Then came the phone call that changed everything: “I’ll never forget the phone ringing and me on the floor saying, “Please God, please open this door for me!”
Rae plans to keep the door open and come back to the Julia Greeley Home often, for meals, fellowship and to stay connected with our program.
Most of all, she smiles at the amazing changes that have transformed her life: “It’s a miracle,” she says, and then she corrects herself: “No, it’s even beyond a miracle.”