Tarala Rybacki is the Director of Annual Giving for the Star of Hope Mission.
After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 2001 with bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Religious Studies, I felt the Lord calling me to step outside my comfort zone and pursue a new ministry opportunity overseas. I was blessed to join Campus Crusade for Christ and lead a first year team of missionaries to pioneer a ministry, Agape Italia, on the University of Florence campus. Upon my return and before coming to Star of Hope, I worked in Atlanta for the Fund for Theological Education, a national non-profit organization dedicated to raising up the next generation of leaders in the church, as their Events Coordinator.
The Beauty in Hope is dedicated to my experiences serving this amazing Christian ministry to Houston's Homeless, and the work the Lord is doing to change lives here for eternity!
But as for me, I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. Psalm 71:14-15
Looking for a fun family activity this weekend? Or perhaps a special date night with a loved one?
Please join
Star of Hope at
Miller Outdoor Theatre on August 14 for a FREE screening of the Academy Award winning movie
The Blind Side. You can help Houston's homeless by bringing a canned food donation to help us feed the nearly 1,000 homeless men, women and children we serve every day. We will be showing the family-friendly version of The Blind Side, so please bring your family!
For more details and information click on
The Blind Side and feel free to pass it along! We hope to see you there!
Get a list of suggested food donations at More Than A Soup Kitchen Houston.
I was talking with a colleague yesterday about the differences between a substance abuse recovery program that is focused on Christ, and other programs that are more centered on the addiction and the user. With the latter type of program, the addict is constantly reminded of their past and the nearness of another fall, another drink, another pill. A Christ-centered recovery program, on the other hand, points its adherents to a New Hope and a New Beginning in Christ. This is the type of recovery we are focused on at Star of Hope, and is the kind of program the men at our Men's Development Center are experiencing.
A current client recently said - I don't focus on my addition and worry about taking another drink, because I'm a New Creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." The following verse even goes on to talk about God's gift of reconciliation, and that because of Christ, He doesn't count our sins against us! There is hope in our failures and our weaknesses - and that hope is Christ. Praise Jesus that we have a Lord that desires to make us new in Him, forgets our past, and allows us to look forward with abundant Hope, promising to hold our hand every step of the way.
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