Still Here, Because Someone Showed Up | Rosemary Ellis
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Description
How do you reach someone who’s been let down so many times that hope feels far away?
This conversation turns toward the heart of presence, listening as Rosemary Ellis shares her journey through childhood trauma, addiction, and the long road to healing. Around shared stories and gentle questions, we hear how care often looks like persistence—a neighbour who brings a sandwich, a bus that offers warmth on cold nights, or a friend who makes space for honesty. There’s no tidy solution, just the steady impact of showing up in messy, uncertain places and believing for change when it feels impossible. The table is open, and this is a story for anyone who wonders if simply being there might matter more than we think.
Time Stamps
03:21 "Safe Haven for Inner-City Youth"
06:35 "Healing After Childhood Trauma"
10:08 "Acts of Kindness on Weekends"
14:40 Reaching the Lost Through Faith
17:18 "Simply Showing Up to Love"
22:22 "Reconciliation and Victimization in Churches"
24:08 "Humility, Trauma, and Addiction"
28:19 "Neighborly: Caring That Matters"
Guest Links
Inner City Youth Alive: https://icya.ca
Other Links
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Reach out to us! https://neighbourlypodcast.ca
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
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Transcript
This episode includes discussion of childhood sexual abuse,
Speaker:exploitation, and addiction, shared as part of a story of
Speaker:healing and hope. Listener discretion is advised. Please take care
Speaker:of yourself while listening. If he
Speaker:did it for me, he can do it for them. There are people dying.
Speaker:I'm blessed to be here. I say it all the time. And I'm not
Speaker:just saying it. I'm humbled because I shouldn't even be
Speaker:alive, yet I am.
Speaker:Every one of us has a story about someone who showed up when it mattered
Speaker:most. I'm Johan, and this is Neighbourly, a
Speaker:podcast about the ordinary ways people show extraordinary care.
Speaker:Every other week, Shannon Steves sits down with someone who's
Speaker:lived that out. Real stories of faith, kindness,
Speaker:and community in action. So grab your coffee and let's
Speaker:join Shannon at the table.
Speaker:Okay. Well, good morning, Rosemary. I am so
Speaker:excited just to be on the podcast with you today.
Speaker:We've known each other for not super long, but you've just
Speaker:been somebody that, as I've gotten to know you, has encouraged
Speaker:and inspired me. And I'm really excited just for you to
Speaker:be on and. And to share some of your testimony and the way
Speaker:God has worked in your life. So thank you for being here
Speaker:today. Thank you for having me, Shannon. Yeah. Before
Speaker:we dive into your story, we always start off with an
Speaker:icebreaker question of who was a neighbor that
Speaker:you'll never forget, good or bad?
Speaker:Okay. What first came to mind was
Speaker:a couple that would constantly throw their garbage over to
Speaker:my yard, and we're talking all sorts of
Speaker:garbage. Oh, my. So that was hard. That was
Speaker:many, many years ago. And it just stuck with me because it didn't matter
Speaker:what I did, how I. You know, I. And I just got to the point
Speaker:where I ignored it. Right. Did you try to talk to them and, like, ask
Speaker:them why they're doing this? I did. I did. But
Speaker:I also wasn't living my best life at that time,
Speaker:so it came to a point where I was just, you know, I. I didn't
Speaker:care because I didn't want to get into it. So. Yeah. Oh, that is. That
Speaker:is memorable. It was. It is memorable.
Speaker:Not something you forget. Before we really get into things, can you just
Speaker:share a little bit about your life right now and just the different
Speaker:ways you're involved in community? Yeah.
Speaker:Okay. So I. I am, number one. I
Speaker:am a child of God. I am a mother to four children.
Speaker:Well, five, actually. I'm also a foster parent, so I'm able
Speaker:to open up my heart and my home
Speaker:in a different capacity. But it's still being the same. Right. But
Speaker:it does look different. I am also, I have a role
Speaker:here at Inner City Youth Alive with the
Speaker:community ministry team. For the last three years. I'm working my
Speaker:third year here now I'm out in the community. I go out
Speaker:into the thick of it. There is some scheduled things I do,
Speaker:but for the most part, one day can look very different from
Speaker:the next. Yeah. And for those who don't know, can
Speaker:you just tell us a little bit, what is inner city Youth Alive? What do
Speaker:you guys do there? Yeah. So how I would explain it in my own
Speaker:words is it is a lighthouse in the middle of the North End. There's
Speaker:several little areas and pockets of inner city Youth Alive. It started
Speaker:off primarily for youth and it still is. We have
Speaker:wonderful drop in staff from Monday to Thursday where our
Speaker:children in this community are able to come to drop in,
Speaker:feel safe. And also, I don't know a lot about it because I don't work
Speaker:in that area, but from what I know, there's also the option of
Speaker:it's called talk time, which they're able to learn about the Lord
Speaker:should they choose to. Now if the, if the children don't choose to,
Speaker:they're not told to leave. So it's, it is number one, it's a safe place
Speaker:for our children in this community. And then, yeah, there's
Speaker:different projects going on. We have Step Up Construction
Speaker:that actually go out into the community and have contracts with people,
Speaker:some bigger city companies and some smaller,
Speaker:just private households. The group at Step up actually
Speaker:just did my backsplash in my kitchen. Wow,
Speaker:super. I'm super blessed. And like,
Speaker:truthfully, what would have been like a $3,000 job
Speaker:was a gift. And like, I just want to praise
Speaker:and just lift up Step Up Construction. And if anybody's listening
Speaker:and they know or they don't know of Step Up Construction,
Speaker:please look us up. And there's always room for contracts and they're
Speaker:looking for work. So. Yeah, that's so awesome. I
Speaker:met a couple weeks ago, Tom. Is he the one who oversees
Speaker:Step Up? Yes. Yeah. And I was like, this is so cool.
Speaker:As you know, know a social enterprise in the community,
Speaker:being able to, you know, employ youth is kind of what he was sharing
Speaker:or youth that are, are growing into adults and that work experience
Speaker:and that just like relationship. That's so huge. It
Speaker:is so huge. I didn't speak a lot about community ministry, so
Speaker:I'll just quickly talk about that. Yeah. There's four of us that have
Speaker:that role and it looks different for all four, but for me,
Speaker:I went into it not knowing again what
Speaker:one day is going to look like. But the Lord has definitely set in my
Speaker:path a specific ministry, and that is to
Speaker:sit and to give a hand of help to
Speaker:women who are struggling with addiction, not just addiction,
Speaker:struggling within the system of cfs. Some real
Speaker:huge concerns I'm able to advocate in court.
Speaker:I'm not a lawyer, obviously, I'm not a, you know,
Speaker:counselor, but God just really has me building
Speaker:relationships with women who trust me. And that's huge because
Speaker:trust is really hard for. For a lot of our. A lot of our
Speaker:families. So. Yeah. Wow. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker:And I. I would imagine that a huge part of that trust
Speaker:comes from, you know, some of your own lived experience in being able
Speaker:to truly relate. Right. And understand some of what
Speaker:they're going through. Yeah. Can you, I guess, kind of going back
Speaker:to a little bit of just your journey, and you mentioned a
Speaker:previous time. You know, where does it start for you, I guess as
Speaker:a youth or a young adult with your story? Well,
Speaker:number one, I'm a product of a broken home. So I
Speaker:had just been living with my mom,
Speaker:and respectfully speaking, my mom and my biological
Speaker:dad and my stepdad, we've all found healing throughout our relationship.
Speaker:But at the end of the day, I suffered. I went through a lot of
Speaker:abuse, sexual abuse at the hands of my
Speaker:uncle, actually. And I had that
Speaker:because my innocence was taken from me, which we see a lot
Speaker:with families with children. What happens then is
Speaker:we lose our sense of identity before we even get to know who we are.
Speaker:So that's what happened to me and ended up going out onto
Speaker:the streets. I did spend some time in cfs, so I was.
Speaker:And forgive me if I jump around a bit, but what happened with me is
Speaker:I didn't open up about the abuse until a little later on. And when I
Speaker:did, I wasn't believed. And we hear a lot of that, too. Children are just
Speaker:not believed. And there's nothing worse than
Speaker:finding the courage to speak up only to be shut
Speaker:down. So when that happened, I kind of just gave
Speaker:up. And what that looked like for me was, okay,
Speaker:I. And I am going to be raw here. When I talk, I'm just going
Speaker:to go out. And I was introduced to people that taught me how
Speaker:to do things such as stand on the corner and prostitute,
Speaker:and that's exactly what I did. I was 12. I was 12
Speaker:when I took my first crack. Hoot. So I started to
Speaker:smoke crack at 12 that obviously
Speaker:caused a lot of
Speaker:confusion. And I
Speaker:went on my years from 12 to,
Speaker:I want to say 20, 21, smoking crack throughout those years,
Speaker:rather than staying stuck in this part, I just want to say
Speaker:that I got out of it. Praise be to God, I got out of it.
Speaker:But I didn't just get out of it and find healing so fast.
Speaker:So the testimony continues. I had to learn how to
Speaker:forgive. I had to learn who I was. I
Speaker:actually had to learn how to think again because
Speaker:a lot of cognitive stuff happened right when you're.
Speaker:When you're 12 and your frontal lobe is still growing and you're smoking
Speaker:hard drugs, it was affected. So, yeah, I
Speaker:was getting to know myself at 21 years old, which isn't
Speaker:horrible. So essentially I got out of it
Speaker:a lot earlier than a lot of the people that I was out with.
Speaker:They're either rest in peace, like they're either passed away
Speaker:or still out there or in jail. Wow. Thank you
Speaker:for sharing that and being raw and honest about
Speaker:what you've walked through. And I'm just honored to sit
Speaker:hear that story. That's incredible what you've been
Speaker:through. But like you alluded to, there have been a time
Speaker:or times where God met you. Can you talk to us
Speaker:a little bit about what that has looked like and how what those
Speaker:turning points were, I guess, in your life? Yes,
Speaker:well, I actually was approached.
Speaker:So through the years of me being on the streets and back then, it
Speaker:was so prominent. We would always be on the corners. Right. Nowadays you
Speaker:don't really see it. It's all online, it's hidden. But through
Speaker:those years, there was a bus called the Love Lives Here bus. And
Speaker:the ministry is still alive and well, but they have a trailer. Back
Speaker:then, on the weekends they would drive around and they
Speaker:would. They would pursue us gently. Okay.
Speaker:And so this is more than a story, but this is actually something
Speaker:that when I. When I talk about, I'm just reminded of
Speaker:God's goodness and how important we as his
Speaker:hands and feet are. Because if
Speaker:that woman, I don't remember her name, didn't ever really
Speaker:see her again, but if she wouldn't have got off of the bus.
Speaker:So anyways, what they did was they would park the bus,
Speaker:cold weather, they'd bring hot chocolate, chili, whatever, to
Speaker:the corners, to where we would stand, and they would
Speaker:try to talk to us. Wow. So that's just kind of like a little bit
Speaker:of what that looked like. Now, this one particular weekend,
Speaker:I was upset, I was angry. I wasn't getting picked up the johns were driving
Speaker:around, and they were just being jerks. And so this
Speaker:one lady, she was pursuing me, right? And
Speaker:I kept telling her to f off, like, leave me alone,
Speaker:lady. Like, you're ruining, you know, whatever business I thought I had.
Speaker:And again, I'm talking just really raw. I'm not glorifying it.
Speaker:So I'm thinking to myself, like, leave me alone. And I told her,
Speaker:right? I was. I was just rude. I was mean. I was. I was not
Speaker:thinking about her. I was thinking about myself. But just
Speaker:as Christ pursues us, she.
Speaker:She stood back like she was, you know, at. You know,
Speaker:she. I could tell she was using some discernment, now that I look back.
Speaker:But she would come back. She would come back. Are you ready for prayer? Can
Speaker:we pray or not even that. Like, can you. You want a
Speaker:sandwich? So this one particular time,
Speaker:back to that time, I said, fine. Like, I'll take a
Speaker:sandwich. She's like, are you cold? And
Speaker:so I went on the bus, and they prayed for me. And so
Speaker:when they were praying for me, I wish I could say that after
Speaker:that night, I didn't ever look back. That's not often the
Speaker:situation. But that was a seed planted.
Speaker:And so I felt different.
Speaker:And it was like my mind, right, because the battle always starts
Speaker:in the mind. My mind started to think things. I started to
Speaker:have different thoughts, like, oh, these people actually took their
Speaker:time to pray with me. And that prayer just felt good.
Speaker:And it was more than just a feeling. It was in my core. That
Speaker:was one of the times that the Lord met me through somebody else.
Speaker:I've also had a radical encounter with the Holy
Speaker:Spirit. And so that particular time was just
Speaker:so beautiful. And several years after,
Speaker:I actually volunteered on that same bus, and
Speaker:for about three or four years, I would volunteer, I got to know Heather
Speaker:Barefoot. She's actually the director of Love Lives Here Ministry
Speaker:and her husband Ted, and the people who drove the bus. Now, what
Speaker:they did was each encounter
Speaker:that they would make with us girls on the street, they would document
Speaker:it. They would write it down. So I was able to go back
Speaker:after I got, like. Got to know them. They took me
Speaker:back to the late 1990s, slash, early
Speaker:2000s, and I was able to read, like, three
Speaker:recordings of when they would talk to me and how they
Speaker:would pray behind the scenes.
Speaker:Like, come on, right? How. How
Speaker:do we. How do we deny that the Lord isn't real?
Speaker:Wow. If that's not an encouragement to people, like,
Speaker:I don't know what is. Because you said it. He's like, it wasn't a
Speaker:light switch after that first, first, you know, prayer, that first encounter,
Speaker:it was seeds being planted over time
Speaker:and, you know, someone saying, yes, being obedient to what
Speaker:God had called them to do and asked them to do, and just show up
Speaker:on the bus and now,
Speaker:like, look at what he's done in your life since then. It's
Speaker:unbelievable. It is, yeah. We could end it there and be
Speaker:okay, but I have more questions. Okay, so
Speaker:you, you mentioned serving on with that ministry, with that team
Speaker:on the bus. How has, you know, what you've been through and walked through, then
Speaker:connected into wanting to continue serving
Speaker:community? Like, how did it go from that to then kind of here, where you're
Speaker:at now? Well, the more I get closer
Speaker:to the Lord, which is a daily thing, the more I
Speaker:see there are people dying physically, spiritually,
Speaker:the most. And how can I.
Speaker:How can I live out my life to glorify God
Speaker:if I don't choose to try to reach the lost?
Speaker:Because if he did it for me, he will do it
Speaker:for you or whoever's listening or whoever's out there right
Speaker:now. If. If he did it for me, he can do it for them, he
Speaker:can do it for. And we're not even just talking about addicts. We're talking about
Speaker:people who may have bondage in other ways.
Speaker:Any kind of idol in your life. There are people dying.
Speaker:And so, yeah, I. I'm
Speaker:blessed to be here. I say it all the time. And I'm not just saying
Speaker:it. I'm humbled because I shouldn't even be alive
Speaker:yet I am. Yeah. How did you
Speaker:get to icya? Because I know
Speaker:there's significance in, like, the neighborhood that you're physically
Speaker:in through work. And part of your story. How did you get
Speaker:there? So for the last 15.
Speaker:15 years, I worked in social services, right.
Speaker:So I was in group homes and I was sitting at work,
Speaker:looked at, you know, actually somebody mentioned inner city
Speaker:youth alive at church not too long before I. I was
Speaker:online and I happened to just come across the job
Speaker:posting. And so I applied not too long
Speaker:after. And it was actually a long process. Like, I didn't just get hired. They
Speaker:interviewed me once, interviewed me twice, interviewed me a third
Speaker:time. Now. The thing about ICY is I used to live in this
Speaker:area, the North End. I would walk by this
Speaker:building and wonder what it was. I didn't
Speaker:ever talk to anybody, but I would walk by literally on my way to the
Speaker:street corner. And so. Wow, right?
Speaker:So here I am, and I'm still wowed. I'm still wowed at
Speaker:how now I'm on the other side, not because
Speaker:I'm better, but because now there's
Speaker:that scripture that comes to mind. We are overcome by the blood of the lamb
Speaker:and the word of our testimony. So he needs, he needs to use us.
Speaker:He wants to use us. And so, yeah, so that's what happened. So I
Speaker:got hired September 2022. It was
Speaker:just six months after actually, so it wasn't. Oh, I
Speaker:applied and I got it. I guess you are in a space
Speaker:where you're quite literally walking with people who are
Speaker:going through some stuff, going through challenges, like you said,
Speaker:addiction and whatnot. I think sometimes
Speaker:we as people can
Speaker:overcomplicate what it means to just love
Speaker:people and serve people. Like, I think sometimes we think we
Speaker:need to have all this experience and training and do all this stuff.
Speaker:And don't get me wrong, training's great, but we don't have to have a
Speaker:degree to go and love people. We don't have to
Speaker:have had a five year career doing xyz. Like,
Speaker:we just have to show up. Right. And I guess, can you speak to what
Speaker:that is like? Not to say you don't have experience, but to the
Speaker:ordinary person who maybe doesn't know how
Speaker:to just say yes to what God is or maybe God's putting something
Speaker:on their heart. Like what it. Like what would you, I guess, nudge them
Speaker:towards if they're in that place of like, I don't know if I
Speaker:really can. I don't know if I really can love that way. Like, what would
Speaker:you tell them? Yeah. So because
Speaker:God qualifies us to do his work,
Speaker:Right. Paul talks about it a lot in the New Testament.
Speaker:It's not supposed to be rainbows and butterflies either. Yeah, there's going to be some,
Speaker:some hard times. There's going to be some times where. And there are
Speaker:a lot of times in my life, especially now, the last
Speaker:three years, I've had more battle than ever. But that actually
Speaker:means I'm on the right, I'm on the right track,
Speaker:not because God wants me to suffer, but because
Speaker:we do have an enemy. And so things pop up.
Speaker:But yes, I would say to those that might
Speaker:be feeling like they have something to give, that they
Speaker:want to help because we all should be right. That's why we're
Speaker:called the church. We're called the body for a reason.
Speaker:And none of us are going to be called to do the same thing.
Speaker:But I would just say trust in the Lord. Back to What I was saying,
Speaker:trust in the Lord. Lean on his understanding, not
Speaker:your own. Yeah, yeah, that's so
Speaker:good. And you already mentioned where I wanted to kind
Speaker:of ask more about was the church. Where does the church
Speaker:fit into all this? I know you see a lot of
Speaker:needs and, you know, people are going through things and they need
Speaker:just practical support sometimes or just, you know,
Speaker:friendship. Where do you see the church fitting into
Speaker:serving the community? Or how do you see it, maybe is a better question.
Speaker:Well, I'm going to just speak from my heart, from
Speaker:what I see. And so just ahead of time,
Speaker:if there are people who may not like it or agree or disagree,
Speaker:that's fine. But thankfully I'm on the podcast, so.
Speaker:Right. I think that we
Speaker:have come a long way as a church,
Speaker:but not nearly far as we need to be.
Speaker:And so when we were talking about not too long ago about Care
Speaker:Portal and about how many churches in Winnipeg, so I know there are a couple
Speaker:more churches that have been added on. Right. But when
Speaker:we think about all the churches in this city,
Speaker:there's a lot. I don't know the exact number. I'm sure you probably know more.
Speaker:I think it's somewhere around 300 or so. Yeah. Right.
Speaker:Okay. Versus. So 300 churches
Speaker:versus how many are on the care portal? Yeah. 10 to
Speaker:12 or so. That's a concern. That's a concern. And I can say it because
Speaker:I don't work for Care Portal, so nobody can get mad at you guys.
Speaker:They can come at me. But I think that's Care
Speaker:Portal alone. But, like, in general, when I see a lot of
Speaker:the churches in this area, so in the inner city, just
Speaker:to make a positive turn, here they are involved. Right. So I also
Speaker:run a food bank out of my church. I'm not the only one who runs
Speaker:a food bank. We have food banks out of Living Word Temple
Speaker:just down the street. Springs Inner City. So we are
Speaker:making an effort for things like that. I do think that when it comes
Speaker:to basic understanding and relationship building,
Speaker:we really need more work. Yeah.
Speaker:And I think that's such a good point because it.
Speaker:I think I've talked about this with someone on a previous episode.
Speaker:It can be sometimes easy to, like, give stuff or do the things,
Speaker:but when it comes to, like sitting with somebody and just like being
Speaker:present in their story, that can be where we
Speaker:need some improvement as a, you know, as the church. And what
Speaker:do you think that could look like? I guess, based on what you see, what
Speaker:are some ways people in churches or just church in
Speaker:general Can. Can do better at that. Relational.
Speaker:Just caring for people. Well, I think,
Speaker:again, speaking for my home church, and
Speaker:hopefully it doesn't sound biased, but we
Speaker:do sit. We'll sit with people. I think that,
Speaker:number one, the second we think we have an us
Speaker:versus them mentality, we're already losing
Speaker:also because of this whole truth and reconciliation
Speaker:thing. I do think that the church,
Speaker:many churches do want to reconcile,
Speaker:but it's done in kind of
Speaker:still kind of keeping people victimized.
Speaker:And again, this is just my take. I'm not into,
Speaker:like, I'm not trying to speak for anybody else.
Speaker:I think that there's that part of trying to keep people victimized
Speaker:still in that victim state, as well as
Speaker:not educating ourselves enough about that. And what
Speaker:the residential schoolings did, what that really.
Speaker:What the impact really is. Yeah. So I think
Speaker:that there's like, different. It's like a different spectrum.
Speaker:It's from one extreme to the next, in my view.
Speaker:Yeah, that's, I think, really
Speaker:insightful to think about that us and them mentality.
Speaker:And, you know, you bring such a deep understanding of
Speaker:dignity, I think, in the way that you serve and the way you love
Speaker:people, I guess. What do you wish more people
Speaker:understood about those who are facing
Speaker:addiction or homelessness or some other significant
Speaker:crisis? Well, what
Speaker:my hope would be and what my prayer
Speaker:is, is. And we're, I guess we're talking more. I'm.
Speaker:I'm speaking more to believers, is
Speaker:that we, number one, get off of our high horse.
Speaker:And I mean that out of love, because I've been on a high
Speaker:horse too, a few times, and I've been knocked down, I've been humbled.
Speaker:And I think when we see the big picture,
Speaker:where trauma comes, what trauma causes, it looks different
Speaker:for everybody. And again, like I said earlier, addiction
Speaker:doesn't just mean drugs and alcohol. Addiction's living up in
Speaker:the suburbs with lots of money that, you know,
Speaker:people are gambling, people are addicted to pornography.
Speaker:We're talking about rich people as well. And so when we
Speaker:have an understanding that it's also us
Speaker:and it just looks different, then maybe they could
Speaker:see an addict on the street or somebody homeless and be like, wow,
Speaker:there's really not much of a difference between the two of us. Right. Yeah.
Speaker:That's so good. We could talk a lot about addiction too. But it's
Speaker:that the problem, you know, the stuff we see, the drugs or
Speaker:the alcohol or the pornography or whatever, the stuff, that's not
Speaker:really the issue. It's deeper within and
Speaker:there's likely trauma there and some wounding and. And healing.
Speaker:That really is needing to happen. And I think when we
Speaker:humanize people and really, truly just see someone,
Speaker:it's like, oh, yeah, you know, I. I see you in
Speaker:me, too. And like, I'm. I'm. I just want to be here,
Speaker:wrap it up here towards the end. I guess
Speaker:one question I have for you is when things feel
Speaker:heavy in work or in life, I guess, what gives
Speaker:you hope for community? What. What keeps you
Speaker:going? Okay, what keeps me going?
Speaker:Seeing women who are choosing to show up
Speaker:for themselves every day, no matter what that looks like. But
Speaker:the. The successes, the victories that come out of that, and
Speaker:seeing families reunited like children being brought
Speaker:back to their families. I have a specific
Speaker:friend, longtime friend, actually, who just got through
Speaker:treatment. She's doing great. She is.
Speaker:She's choosing to get through all that stuff. We were just talking about trauma. She's
Speaker:choosing to dig at those roots of trauma so that
Speaker:she can leave a better legacy for her children. And it
Speaker:shows, right? There's. There's evidence of God in her
Speaker:life. She sees it. She acknowledges it, and. And
Speaker:she knows. She also knows that that doesn't mean things are going to be perfect,
Speaker:but just to see that light switch go
Speaker:on in her spirit, that's
Speaker:encouraging. So, yeah, it's not all bad.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. Is there anything that
Speaker:you feel it's on your heart to share that I haven't given you the opportunity
Speaker:to say yet? Anything. You just feel
Speaker:what to say? Well, I said a lot. I think that.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm just thankful. I'm thankful that you thought of me to bring me
Speaker:on. And again, anytime I can share
Speaker:what God has done in my life and I can actually
Speaker:speak about how it happened or whatnot,
Speaker:I pray that that gives hope to people who
Speaker:knows where you're at in your life. But, yeah, just. Just to encourage people who
Speaker:are listening that God is alive and
Speaker:he's real. He's alive and he. He wants to move in our lives.
Speaker:It's beautiful. Rosemary, your story is such a
Speaker:reminder that extraordinary care often looks like just
Speaker:showing up, loving people, and just being
Speaker:faithful to where God has placed you. And so thank you.
Speaker:Thank you for being here and thank you for sharing your story. Thank you. Thank
Speaker:you so much. The stories we share here remind us
Speaker:that care doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful.
Speaker:It just has to be present. Neighbourly is an initiative of
Speaker:Care Impact, a Canadian charity equipping churches,
Speaker:agencies, and communities with tech and training to care better
Speaker:together. Visit CareImpact CA or to find out more
Speaker:about the podcast, sponsorships, being a guest or a journey. Just dropping
Speaker:us a line. Visit NeighborlyPodcast CA. We'd love
Speaker:to hear from you. Check the show notes for the link or hop on our
Speaker:Care Impact Podcast group on Facebook to join our podcast community.
Speaker:I'm Johan. Thanks for listening and keep being the kind of
Speaker:neighbor someone will never forget in a good way.
Speaker:Turning over tables
Speaker:of building up the bridges between
Speaker:the stones of these Turning over
Speaker:tables Breaking off chains
Speaker:When I see you in a stranger I'm no
Speaker:longer a slave
Speaker:table Tearing down walls
Speaker:Building up the bridges between
Speaker:us all.
