Last Updated September 9, 2011Summer Story: Sherimon Harris

Blessed by Thorns

My name is Sherimon Harris and this summer was my 5th summer working with the Boston Project and 4th working with Senior Park Patrol. My summer, like every other, was very full but I must say that I saw God moved and worked his wonders in the life of my interns and neighborhood a lot more than I've ever seen. Below are a few brief stories that really left an imprint on my heart and showed the various ways God moved.

At the beginning of the last week of the summer, I prayed that God would really allow me to enjoy my youth. I prayed that I would appreciate everything about them. One day during the week, I started off the day on a bad note due to some personal issues I had to deal with, so I said a silent prayer that the rest of my day would go smoothly. And God being the God that he is challenged me and allowed the enemy to place numerous distraction and obstacles in my path.

I had to deal with two youth who were on the verge of fighting with two different people, youth cussing at each other, youth not working, and one youth that was just oozing out attitude. All this happened in a ten minute span while I was still trying to lead a work site. Even with all this I kept praying and praying because I was close to just breaking down. Then at that moment, two of the youth began yelling at each other, and I thought for sure a fight was going to break out. I thought I couldn't take it anymore, then to my surprise, I watched them approach each other and talk out their conflict. They were able to express their points in a very civilized manner and I knew right then that was God working.

However, throughout the course of the day, God continued to challenge me by using the youth who was oozing out attitude. She kept on provoking situations that were exponentially escalating, and was being rather rude to me and another staff member. After that I was done! I could not take any more of her negative attitude, her rude comments and her unwillingness to work. All my interns knew I was upset. The next day, while my interns were at the work site, I took my time to join because I needed to say a prayer over our work day. I have a tendency to dwell a lot on past events and let those events shape my future, but I decided that I was going to surrender my entire day and actions to God because I felt really bad about the way I reacted the previous day.

As a result, I just saw how God moved. He mended broken relationships among the youth, changed attitudes and work ethics, and he allowed each and every one of us to have a spectacular day. But what really touched me was at the end of the day the youth, who gave a the hardest time yesterday, approached me and asked if I was having a better day because she knew yesterday was really hard for me. That touched me and I can only say "Praise the Lord" because even if she didn't say sorry for her actions, God humbled her enough to let her realize that her behavior the previous day wasn't the best. Overall, God used the "thorns" of my day to bless me and show me that he works even though I may not see it, he works!