My Story: Sharvette

GOD GETS THE GLORY

Sharvette says Angel Tree has always been a welcoming place for her family. When they first went to pick up the children’s Christmas gifts, Sharvette felt uneasy since she didn’t know anyone. But as Angel Tree volunteers came to greet her, her anxiety began to fade.

“It was just a great event. Our first time, of course, we’re nervous,” she says. “When they welcomed us in that room, [we saw] not only other families, but the staff. They were just like, ‘Tonight is going to be a good night!’”

Sharvette recalled the special way the church made her family feel at home. And when the kids opened their presents, she was overwhelmed with gratitude.

“When they gave us those gifts, and the kids opened them, it was like, ‘Wow, we got all this extra stuff.’ God gets the glory for these people to put a smile [on children’s faces] during Christmastime. It was hard for me that year. It was a big blessing to us; we had a great time for sure.”

The best part for her kids was knowing their dad had remembered them at Christmas. They missed him and, at times, it felt as though they would never see him again.

“I was like, ‘See, he’s not dead!” she recalls. “He’s not dead.”

When her children’s father was incarcerated, for Sharvette it felt like a death. Recently her grandmother, who raised her, passed away, adding to the feelings of grief. Sharvette had depended on her grandmother for support when she delivered each of her kids, and for advice in everyday life. Simply navigating life without her grandmother or her children’s dad has been painful and difficult. Sharvette has asked God for strength through this season.

“I’m just like, ‘Lord, You know the answers,’” she says. “‘You know all about it. Just give us strength to keep this momentum going on with hope and knowing that our Creator is near.’”

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Sharvette’s children have embarked on their third year at Hidden Acres camp. She still marvels at how much they learn each year about God as they deepen their relationship with Him. Her children also have gained a community with caring staff as well as with other campers.

“It’s just amazing how the kids come back in a whole different perspective of life and the way they view God,” she says. “It was just Angel Tree and that connection that we have with the people that is involved.”

Her four children are 9, 11, 13, and 15 years old, and though Sharvette knew they would be together at camp, she still felt hesitant to send them off.

“I was so nervous,” she recalls. “But because I had met the staff in person prior, I knew that it was going to be a great experience, because you can feel really from people’s energy in the way that they speak. You can feel that [the kids] are going to be in good hands.”

That first year she felt, as she put it, the “mommy emotions” of having her kids be on their own for the first time, mixed with excitement for them. The staff excelled at making children feel comfortable; she knew it was the best decision for them to be at camp.

CAMP BLESSINGS FOR EVERYONE

While her children have benefited from going to camp, growing in their faith, and gaining a community of friends, Sharvette says she is just as blessed.

“[Camp] gave me hope,” she says. “Being involved with Hidden Acres, it really made us feel at the end of the day that God sees us, because He brought good people in our lives. God knows that because now the kids are gone four or five days, I don’t have to worry about [them].”

For Sharvette, the week her children enjoy away at camp is also a time for her to catch her breath and be renewed in the Lord.

“I think that I probably could have lost it without the camp stepping in and saying, ‘Go handle your business. We got the kids,’” she admits.

“The camp is [God’s] confirmation that ‘I won't put nothing on you that you’re not going to bear,’” she adds. “‘And even if I do put it on you, I got an exit strategy.’ And the camp was that exit strategy, that ram in the bush to come and just give me a little break to get my mind and thoughts together.”

On a couple of occasions, Sharvette marveled that her children were learning the same truths that God had been speaking to her heart.

She and her family recently began attending a church in Dallas that a family friend recommended.

“I’ve been going there with her,” Sharvette says. “And I’m telling you, the prayers are real.”