It is now more than two years since the new Casa Filip in Cluj, Romania, opened its doors to guests and began meeting the needs of many requiring accommodation while undergoing cancer treatment in nearby hospitals.
More than merely offering bed and board, the staff there provide loving care and Gospel hope to those facing what are inevitably very difficult times.
Ala is one such person. She is a 57-year-old mother of five children, who travelled all the way from the Republic of Moldova seeking not just healing, but a place where she could feel safe, welcomed, and understood.
Sometime previously she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was urged to see an oncologist immediately. Devastated by the news, she could barely make it back to the car, where her husband was waiting to hear the painful news that she would soon have to tell her children as well.
Encouraged by God’s word
However, despite being overwhelmed by all that she is experiencing, Ala has found at Casa Filip all that she had longed for and more. There at Casa Filip she has become a part of a family of faith – a community that prays, cries, and hopes together. Like her, many others, also with heavy burdens to carry, have chosen to keep on fighting their disease while entrusting their hearts into the hands of the loving Lord Jesus.
The work at Casa Filip goes on, continuing to care for those whose suffering lingers – providing not only a home away from home but the support and encouragement so necessary for the 75-100 people who stay there every month.
This means that sufferers do not have to sleep in railway stations, hospital chairs, or prohibitively expensive guesthouses, nor do they have to suffer alone. Now they are comforted by the God who promises never to leave them, and by the love of Christ that they are constantly shown through the care they receive from believers at Casa Filip.
Through SGA’s Phoebe ministry, funds are provided to help cover food costs. Pray for all who experience God’s amazing provision at Casa Filip and for those who walk alongside them on the difficult path they have to travel.