“God Who Sees Me” : Lucy’s Journal

When Lucy Ricketts saw a job posting for an Empowerment Support Specialist position at In My Shoes, she was so overjoyed she nearly dropped her phone. She texted her best friend in a state of nervous excitement and applied to the position within the next fifteen minutes. Her prayer had been answered by the God who sees her. 

Lucy grew up in Dallas, Texas, and, oddly enough, went to elementary school at a property directly adjacent to where In My Shoes is now located. As a kid, she thought perhaps she wanted to be a teacher, but through observing her mother, a social worker who now has thirty-eight plus years of experience, and a natural tug in her heart, Lucy chose to pursue her BSW at Francsican University of Steubenville. 

Her professional journey in social work began at Maggie’s Place, a maternity home located in Phoenix; there she would meet Maria Puccini and other founders of In My Shoes, who, inspired by Maggie’s Place, decided to start a similar home in Dallas. This was ten years ago. A new college grad, Lucy was told by a close friend, almost a sister to her, “You need to apply to Maggie’s Place and do a year of service there…if you don’t apply for it I’ll apply to it for you.” Lucy trusted this friend’s knowledge of her heart, and applied for the job, which had an overwhelming impact on her. Living with these pregnant women and mothers, Lucy felt sure in her love for the place. After her two years of service came to an end, she recalls saying, “I love this work. I love this mission.” She knew her time living in the home was over, but there was a part of her heart that still longed to come back to this kind of work in a nine-to-five setting. 

Finally, ten years after that notion began to grow in her heart, she is here at In My Shoes. She said, “The Lord has really revealed this as a full circle moment for me professionally and personally; my start date at In My Shoes was exactly the date of my last day at Maggie’s Place, July 31st.” This, and the fact that In My Shoes is on her old elementary school campus, filled her with such surety of the Lord’s hand in her life, that she got chills just talking about it. It was like the Lord was saying to her, “Lucy, I see you. I’ve seen and I know that you’ve been praying this prayer for ten years and I know that you have been waiting for this moment and have led you into a season of waiting for the past year.” Her past ten years were filled with other social work positions; she worked as a foster care case manager, as a social worker for Family Gateway, and with Human Coalition, which is one of the biggest Christian organizations that makes or strives to make abortion unthinkable and unnecessary. Despite the good work that she did, she shared that, “her heart never felt fully at home” in any of these positions, because of this deeper yearning to return to maternity home work. Now, she says “my heart is bursting  to get back to a population that holds so dear to my heart. I am so grateful. So grateful.” 

As the Empowerment Support Specialist, Lucy meets with each mother twice a month, helping them job search, connecting them with resources, and generally navigating those practical issues which take time, patience, and perseverance to work through. This position at In My Shoes is entirely new; before this, the residential core team members fulfilled this role. Lucy taking on this work, and conducting all phone screenings, will give the residential workers greater ability to be fully present in the home and focus entirely on forming those relationships with the moms. When asked what she aspires to bring to In My Shoes, Lucy replied, “Life-changing hope…That there are people out there that truly love you. Regardless of what season of life you’re in, there are people who want to enter into that moment with you, especially in the most vulnerable season of your life.” 

Lucy told me there is a name of Christ in Hebrew, “Adonai El Roi” which translates, “God Who Sees Me”. Lucy, filled with confidence in the God who sees her, will surely fulfill her role with a heart ready to see and support the mothers at In My Shoes.

Written By,

Margaret Jennings