| Christians Against Poverty - Caring when you can't cope |
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All of us have had the type of day when all we want to do is hide under the duvet and hope it goes away. Gale Gable from Gillingham was burying herself in bed every time she got home from work. Overwhelmed by the reality that she could not make ends meet, she was completely desperate. “I would go to work and when I got home I would go straight to bed because I just couldn’t deal with anything,” she says. About three months before, she had left a high-paid job to go back into nursing and her income fell dramatically. “I would spend my whole waking time worrying and feeling guilty about it. I also felt a failure, that at my age I had nothing to show for my life. In general my life was very empty, lonely, negative and I was angry with life in general. I started to think, ‘What was the point of life?’” Thankfully, Gale’s sister had heard of debt-busting charity Christians Against Poverty. When Gale broke down and explained she had no money to live on, she suggested she get in touch. Gale says, “When I rang CAP, I spoke to this lady and she took my details and then said, ‘Can I pray for you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ But having someone actually care about me made me realise, this is what I want, I want God. She made me cry for the first time in years and years. I felt loved and understood. I expected to be judged all the time and you don’t expect someone to say, ‘Don’t worry, everything will be all right.’ That was the day my life changed.” So if you are reading this and having a difficult day, remember that there is no situation that God is not able to change. Nothing is bigger than the hope he brings and often in the struggle we grow closer to him. Christians Against Poverty are reaching further into the UK’s towns and cities thanks to the support of the church. Some churches have opened as CAP centres and offer face-to-face support and a solution for people with debts. Others have been trained to hold CAP Money courses in their community to help people manage their finances. Gale says, “The people in church care for you and it’s happy. I don’t feel empty any more. I did have a God-shaped hole. Life is amazing now. I just feel more content in life.” Christians Against Poverty is a national debt counselling charity working in partnership with 125 churches across the UK. For more information about CAP, call 01274 760720 or visit www.capuk.org. |
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