After months of meeting with her mentor and working through layers and layers of trauma, an overwrought mother finally convinced the father of her newborn to come in and learn about our men’s programming. She was exhausted from the daily barrage of verbal abuse whittling away at her self-worth.

This father came to RETA guarded, certainly skeptical. With social expectations of masculinity deeply rooted, the stigma he felt was palpable when coming through our doors. While Darial spoke with him privately, Darial felt the Holy Spirit urge him to share his own story, a story of an absent father, of poverty, of disfunction: A story of missteps and despair, but also a story of grace and promise. As trust quickly built, this young man opened up about his own frustrations and feelings of abandonment, and at one point, revealed that he just felt so hollow inside. A flood of tears followed, opening a chasm into which Darial poured the Gospel.

Imagine for a moment the rawness of that vulnerability. A man who misunderstood power as something to wield over a woman as a verbal weapon was now rendered powerless, or so he thought, in front of another man. However, that is not how God works. It is through our vulnerability and brokenness that we are drawn closer to God. Through our fragility, we discover our divine worth. Weakness confounds strength.

Although this is just the beginning, it prompted this young man to desire change, to become the best man he could possibly be. Most importantly, it has established the bonds of a trusted relationship, one that offers healing…

And power.