Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: MOTEL (03/06/25)
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TITLE: The Secret Place. | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gloria Pierre Dean
03/12/25 -
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Homeless and desperate, Anna and Brain had no alternative but to stay in the local motel.
The tornado of storms had knocked their home down and the thought of living in a shelter was unbearable but together with Tom, their two-year-old, they moved into The Secret Place motel.
It was owned by Mr and Mrs Tom Elders from the local Baptist church.
Tom and Phyllis met at high school and grew up in the same town of Hadley. Childhood sweethearts, they both loved their place of birth and never left. The changes over the years had perturbed them. Many people had moved into the town in the last few years and there was prosperity as well as poverty. Hadley Baptist Church remained a constant.
As they spent time in prayer, they felt that The Lord wanted them to open a motel. The idea was to find one close to a highway so they could attract people who were traveling.
No meals of course, but they had snack machines in the foyers
An additional feature was the back rooms where they would accommodate the homeless who needed to stay somewhere; so homeless vagrants would stay there rather than in the cold doorways of the local stores. The Elders also did something unusual, they would pray for the vagrants who wanted prayer and had Menatal Health Coaches counsel those who requested the help. Over the years they found that many of the vagrants were traumatized by life events and needed The Healing Hand of God in their lives, to heal their soul wounds.
Anna and Brian volunteered their services to help with the workload. She would clean and do laundry while Brian would help with the vegetable garden and they both took turns caring for their son Tommy. Sunday mornings at church saw a gradual increase in numbers as some of the homeless would attend, give their lives to Christ, and grow spiritually.
The local press even printed an article entitled “The Secret Place is a peace-filled place to be”,
which spiked the local government’s interest. They heard many reports about the good work they were doing for the vagrants, and for the owners of storm-damaged homes;
so they offered a grant for improvements.
The Elders were so happy to have their secret dream of enlargement come through, and they wanted to enlarge the motel and increase the work of helping others. So, they added more rooms, installed new flooring, and upgraded the reception area. They also installed a prayer room so that they could hold services and be the heart of The Secret Place, where people could quietly spend time with the Lord and ‘..abide under the Shadow of The Almighty’ if they wished to. The Pastor often visited and would pray for those who wanted prayer. Christian music was on and Bible reading and sermons could be heard too.
Eventually, when their house was repaired, Anna, Tommy, and Brain moved out, but the Secret Place always held a special place in their hearts.
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