A Place to Meet Hope

The reality is that some youth who spent time in foster care carry religious trauma, which can be due to religious-based abuse or neglect, or being placed in foster homes with potentially harmful religious beliefs or practices. Many of these youth don’t know Jesus and the hope, healing and abundant life He desires for them. Our vision for Tamarisk is absolutely that we could come alongside young adults aging out of foster care and support them tangibly through relationships, advocacy, physical items, life skills, career direction, etc., but we also know that all of this is temporary. Our greatest desire is that Tamarisk would be a place where they could meet real Hope - Jesus. Our team deeply believes that He is the greatest thing we could offer anyone. He is a Savior who knows what it means to suffer and to walk wounded. He is a Healer, Restorer, Father and Friend. And what a promise we have in Him, that one day He will wipe away all our tears, and death, mourning and pain will be no more. We certainly cannot give anyone that kind of promise, and so we will point them to the One who can. This will primarily look like pursuing relationship with the young adults we will serve and Lord-willing earning the right to be heard to be able to then speak into their lives. We will absolutely offer discipleship if any of our young adults are interested in pursuing it but will not force anything on anyone. It will simply be as D.T. Niles stated, “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”