We are sorry you all were not flies on the wall this morning at the Isaiah House. The place was buzzing with gratitude and joy over the Fashion Show and Soiree last night. Many thanks! – Gratefully, the Women of the Isaiah House
To My Dear Friends:
On most evenings after celebrating the lives of our Guests at the Isaiah House I am so full of a desire to tell you all about the experience that I sit down and tap away in spontaneous form. However, last night was different. It required reflection – something contrary to my forward leaps in lateral thinking.
Isaiah says that it is justice, not charity, to provide for the widow, the orphan, the dispossessed and the stranger. It isn’t something extra that we do, but something we are obliged to do, to call ourselves human. Justice will provide the means of survival to those who cannot provide it for themselves.
True charity begins where mere justice ends, when the people around a damaged life tear holes in the fabric of their lives to pick up the dispossessed person, like a dropped stitch, and invite them all the way in – to be our neighbors again, if they are willing. And so the guests of Isaiah House were given, not just what they need to survive another day, but tokens of beauty and power to take up their lives and livelihoods again.
You gave them the finest food and dressed them completely in your finest attire, from skin to accessories. You threw them a party and had each of them walk the runway, to the unctuous praise of an announcer. Women who were tired and sad a couple of hours earlier remembered (it is always simply a matter of remembering this, isn’t it?) how to be supermodels. And when the party is over, after midnight, the ball gown is still there. It was real.
On your behalf I gave my world premiere performance, singing the chorus of the P-Diddy hit “I’m Coming Home” so it would be me singing to them and not someone else. It was terrible, so of course the women clapped and cheered.
I’m coming home
I’m coming home
Tell the World I’m coming home
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits and they’ve forgiven my mistakes
I’m coming home
I’m coming home
Tell the World I’m coming home
The evening, and the much-needed attire for their new lives, hit home among the Guests. To walk into a shelter for the “homeless poor” is to take on the identity of the lost soul, the invisible person. The invisible person receives (if they will) a bed and a meal, and this is just; but it does not render them visible. It does not call them by name into life.
I am filled with deep respect, seeing one after another take in the message of the evening and receive their gifts and take their walk down the runway to enthusiastic applause and genuine admiration. To receive one must be very brave, and become vulnerable no matter how wrong vulnerability has come to seem. I saw faces alight with surprise, pain, hope and release, overcome by being seen again.
You did all of this and more. Thank you.
Marti
John Fischer The Catch 
Dear Marti
Thank you so much for your letter about the event last night. Your description of it brought tears to my eyes. It made me wish that I lived nearby so I could help be a part of the work you are doing. God is using you and John in wonderful ways.
Bridget
Look for what you can find in your own area and if nothing, pray about starting something.
John
Dear Marti —
Not only did you write about authentic beauty, you wrote about it beautifully. You may sing badly, but you write with wonderful gifts indeed. Thanks to you and John for sharing your work with us. My prayers sing with yours.
Dear Marti,
After reading this account of what occurred at the Isaiah House, I am speechless. It took me some time just to digest the beauty, the love, the Godliness of the situation. People whose self worth has eroded into nothing, God’s people, having their hearts filled with love, hearts that have been empty for so long. AWESOME!
You wished I was a fly on the wall. Your description of the evening made me a fly on the wall. You gave women a self confidence in themselves that they thought had disappeared. They overcame who they thought they were to who they really are in God’s eyes…..beautiful ladies made in God’s image who for that evening saw themselves how God actually sees them as beautiful people.
Your point about the obedience of being just to one another is a pearl of insight. I had seen charity not in that same light. Thank you for that! To love means to be vulnerable. If we love unconditionally as you did at Isaiah House then vulnerability becomes a strength because we are no longer afraid of it, we wallow in it.
Last of all, and this to me is disappointing, that this is only the second comment about the evening that you just put on. Upon reflection, I almost did not choose to comment, because when I read your letter I was so overcome with emotion that I was speechless. Emotion passes and then I wrote so thank you once again for the justice you brought to people who needed to be loved in the worst way. Without a doubt I can see God sitting in heaven with tears running down His cheeks and a huge smile on His face all at the same time.
Marti this type of event should become standard fare in all ‘Isaiah Houses’ in the world. That is my prayer. I will initiate this in the area where I live. Thank You. You blessed the women and you blessed those who read your letter. You are a Godly woman! As God would say, “Well done my good and faithful servant!”.
Peter
Awesome. I sent this on to Marti for encouragement. What I love about your comments is that they include talk of a change in attitude and action. That’s the best anyone could hope for!