I discovered the "Power of With" the hard way after a drunk driver killed my Dad when I was only nine-years-old.
The weeks that followed were a tearful blur.
My mother endured multiple surgeries, and my siblings and I traveled from home to home, staying a few days at each.
Then came the unforgettable day I made a nervous trek to Mr. Davis’s house.
He was a member of my father’s congregation, he swung open the door to his home and declared, "You are with family. And this is now your home."
It's hard to express what that meant to me and my siblings. We understood we would no longer suffer alone. No more shuffling from home to home: That word "with" meant we finally had a home again.
Surely it’s no accident that as adults, my siblings and I have devoted ourselves to helping "the least of these."
After all, we’d experienced the life-changing "Power of with" firsthand and felt led to share it with others.
In the months that followed the Davises would wipe the tears from our eyes, and spill a few of their own.
From that day forward, we no longer suffered alone.
I believe what we experienced — the "Power of With" — is transformative.
It offers a life-changing lesson for us all.
Gaze out over any community, and you’re sure to see lives broken by the vicissitudes of life. They often feel nobody cares — as if life’s slings and arrows have rendered them unwanted orphans forever cut off from the "Power of With."
Well, here’s the good news: You can help heal their brokenness!
Once they realize you not only feel their pain but stand ready and willing to share it with them, they begin to heal in ways that at first seemed impossible.
I’ve seen it time and again.
Romans 8:15 calls this process receiving "the Spirit of adoption."
Based on my own experience, I call it the "Power of With."
As I consider our society today as co-founder and CEO of CityServe, I’m convinced we need the life-saving "Power of With" more than ever.
Since 2016 our church network has stepped up to stand with well over 15 million souls —victims of weather catastrophes, disasters, and wars both here and abroad.
And I’ve been blessed to witness the "Power of With" repeatedly.
You see, when people who feel they’ve lost everything suddenly realize you’re there with them, not just to provide material help, but to share their pain and their tears, you see a special light of hope return to their eyes.
Seeing that is one of the most rewarding experiences anyone can possibly have.
I experienced this in a very personal way decades after that initial, anxious odyssey that led me as a nine-year-old kid to the Davises’ front door.
My wife Kristy and I received a call from a social worker. By then we’d gone through all the training needed to serve as foster parents but had never quite taken the next step.
The social worker told us about Barbara, a 16-year-old foster child in our town.
We learned we were the only certified family in her school district; her current foster home had told her it was time to move on. That meant unless we took her in, she’d have to spend her April looking for another family, and yet another school.
As I heard Barbara’s story, I couldn’t help but relive a sense of turmoil, insecurity, and abandonment — I’d lived it.
But how would adding a new child in our home affect our own household and children?
We all peered out the window a few days later as a car deposited Barbara in our driveway.
She was summarily dropped off outside our home by her then-foster parent, who wished her "Good luck" before driving away down the street.
It seemed she was treated like just another online delivery package.
I will never forget the sight of Barbara shuffling toward our front door.
Clearly nervous, she was hunched over as if slogging through mud, no doubt bracing for yet another rejection. She clutched a pillow in one hand and in the other a box containing all her worldly belongings.
It had been 40 years since my own anxious pilgrimage along the path to the Davises' humble home, and I knew what I had to say.
Just before Barbara could touch the knob, I swung the door open wide. I did my best to give her the same warm, encouraging smile that Bill Davis had graced us with so many years ago.
As she stepped into our home, we gave her a warm embrace. And that’s when I repeated the precious words conveying the life-saving "Power of With."
"Welcome," I said, "you are now with family … and this is your home."
Over the years since, we’ve watched as our dear Barbara thrived, blossoming into a beautiful young woman with a genuine heart for Jesus.
The day she turned 21, we adopted her as one of our own.
Occasionally, experts in the foster care system will ask us what we did to encourage the remarkable transformation they’ve seen in Barbara.
"I hope you don’t mind" I tell them with a smile, "but my answer is a four-letter word."
"What is it?" they insist.
That’s when I tell them, "With."
"His father’s death and mother’s debilitating injury due to a drunk driver at age 9 propelled Dave Donaldson to dedicate his life to building healthier families and stronger communities worldwide. In 2017, he co-founded CityServe International, which has since distributed over $1.2 billion of goods to communities in need. Read more of Dave Donaldson’s reports — Here.
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