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Major Judy Hart, the divisional director of Shared Ministry for the Finger Lakes Region, shares her very personal story about finding God at The Salvation Army.
My story with the Salvation Army begins in Covington, Kentucky.
Coming from a large family of eleven, The Salvation Army was there to assist my family in our time of need. My step-father was a hardworking man with limited education. He worked as a taxi-cab driver, ice cream truck driver and later got a job as a dish washer at The Salvation Army’s Booth Hospital. Many times, The Salvation Army helped to put food on our table.
In 1965, my family was living in Texas in a house behind the Salvation Army and my older siblings would go “dumpster diving” in their trash, finding bicycle parts and clothing. Once we moved back to Northern Kentucky, my mom turned to The Salvation Army for some much needed assistance. The officer there at the time took notice of the many children in our household and invited the children to come to The Salvation Army’s youth programs. My sisters and brother went to the programs and loved them. Once I turned 5½, I too went to the programs. The Salvation Army quickly became a second home to me. It was at The Salvation Army where I felt loved and encouraged to dream big dreams.
Many times in such a large family, I felt that I “got lost in the crowd.” However, at The Salvation Army, I felt like I was an individual.
I wasn’t the best behaved kid; many times I caused trouble and chaos. I would chase the other girls into the bathroom threatening to beat them up. But for some reason, the officers continued to love me and see the potential in me. Perhaps I was testing them to see if they truly cared; if I was, they certainly passed the test.
It was during a revival campaign at The Salvation Army that I first knelt at the altar and gave my life to Christ. It was at that same altar where I later committed my life to full-time service in the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army helped to break the cycle of poverty in my life. Six of my eight sisters had unwed, unplanned pregnanancies. I firmly believe that I would have had the same experience without the influence of The Salvation Army officers in my life.
When I see how God used The Salvation Army to make a radical change in my life, I want to be available to my God to use me to come alongside someone else and help them to see their personal value. I am so grateful that God has allowed me the opportunity to be used by Him. I can’t imagine doing anything other than being a Salvation Army officer.
The most rewarding part of being a Salvation Army officer is finding that person who feels unimportant and helping them discover just how important they are to God. I love having the opportunity to encourage others to dream big dreams and shoot for the stars, whether that individual is a child who comes to one of our youth programs or an individual who has come to The Salvation Army looking for assistance. The one aspect I love about The Salvation Army is that we have so many opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ. The Bible says, “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)
I can’t imagine where I would be today had it not been for The Salvation Army. The motto “Heart to God and hand to Man” has become my life motto. If God can transform me, then I know he can transform others. I must be ready and willing to do what He wants me to do. Whether it is holding the hand of a lonely elderly woman as she is all alone in a scary hospital room, or “being there” for a mother who just found her son who had committed suicide. Serving coffee to a firefighter or leading a listening ear to someone who lost everything in a hurricane. As a Salvation Army Officer, God has taken me places to minister in ways I could never have imagined. Oh that He (God) might count me faithful.