News From Christian Service Mission: The Day God Brought CSM To The Mixon House

Boone’s Creek youth group praying over the Mixon family

God is doing amazing things in Birmingham and has included Christian Service Mission in many ways. This story is a beautiful example of how God providentially brought CSM to a woman’s doorstep; a woman who wanted to fix up her parents’ old house but did not have the means to do so.

Darlene Mixon lived much of her life over a thousand miles away in Minnesota. She moved to Birmingham to be able to be with and care for her mother when she became sick with cancer. When her mother passed away three years ago, Ms. Mixon decided not to move back to Minnesota. As she put it, “I stayed here in her house to make sure it was kept up. The roof was already bad when I got here…” She wanted to make sure that nothing bad happened to the house, as her parents had lived there for the past 30 years. Ms. Mixon counts it a privilege to be able to live in her parents’ former home; it is also a bonus to not have a mortgage on the home.

A friend told Ms. Mixon of Birmingham’s municipal city program which helps to rehabilitate houses. Concerning the program, she told me that “I assumed I wouldn’t get anything.” However, she signed up anyway. In the meantime, she laid the matter of fixing up her house before God, with faith that He would provide everything she and her home needed. “I put this on the altar and left it there.” About two to three weeks later, Randy from Christian Service Mission showed up to her door! It is better told in Ms. Mixon’s own words, “My daughter and I were sitting here when Randy knocked on our door and said, ‘I’m here to fix your roof; God brought me here to fix your roof.’” She then proceeded to hug Randy and shed tears of thankfulness to Christian Service Mission, and most of all to God. “It felt amazing that God could take a person like me and bless me so much... everything I’ve asked God for in my struggle here in Birmingham, I’ve received. I’ve been saved for the past fifteen years. Once you turn your life over to God, all things are possible.”

The very last thing Ms. Mixon, and her daughter who lives with her, expected was for Randy to show up at her home once again after the roof was completed. Randy told her that Christian Service Mission wanted to paint her home as well; he even let her pick out the color! So, this past June, a team of high schoolers from Boones Creek Christian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee came to Birmingham on a mission trip. They spent the week with Christian Service Mission painting Ms. Mixon’s house! Ms. Mixon and her family were at a loss for words. She and her daughter wanted to show their thanks in some way, but they could not think of how they should do it. Because God blessed her so immensely, Ms. Mixon wanted to show Christian Service Mission just how thankful she was. She eventually figured out what she wanted to do. “Me and my daughter pooled our money together and said, 'We’re going to feed ‘em!'”

And feed us she did. They started the night before on the barbeque chicken wings and had a feast you would not believe once the team of high schoolers arrived to paint her house the next day. The hotdogs, creamy macaroni, baked beans, coleslaw, and potato salad went together perfectly. Concerning this amazing meal, the leader of the high school team stated something along the lines of, “We’re from Tennessee, and we’ve had Memphis barbeque, and barbeque from other places. I can honestly say that your food tops it all. This was definitely a highlight of our trip.”

God has done and is doing amazing things in Birmingham. It was a privilege for God to give us a taste of His never-ending faithfulness and providence through His use of us in Ms. Mixon’s life; and Ms. Mixon is just one of many amazing godly people in Birmingham who He blesses so they can continue to bless and minister to others.