Right on Time: How One Prayer, One Phone Call, and One Orchard Changed Two Families’ Lives

It had been almost a year since Bella Marie first walked through the doors of the Real Life Center, ashamed to ask for help. Now she was out of work again, standing in a shopping center parking lot, when she spotted a familiar face. Neither of them said a word. But that one glance was enough to remind her of everything she'd found here before.

Across town that same season, Michael Crozier was carrying a problem of his own. For weeks, he hadn't been able to fill an open position at his family's medical supply business. That morning, before heading out to cover a surgery, he woke up and prayed for just one thing: focus.

Neither of them knew it yet, but God was already connecting their stories.

Bella Marie and her son moved to Georgia in 2024, ready to build a safer, more stable life together. She kept working, pursued her bachelor’s degree in behavioral health science, and finally found her footing. Then in August 2025, she unexpectedly lost her job, and the stability she had worked so hard for suddenly felt uncertain again.

A friend from church shared a resource guide that mentioned the Real Life Center, so Bella Marie came in for food and financial assistance. One of our team members, Tessa, welcomed her with such warmth and discretion that Bella Marie said she immediately felt safe, valued, and treated with dignity.

Soon after her first visit to the Real Life Center, she met with a Real Life Center Assessment Counselor, who did something Bella Marie did not expect. Instead of just handling the immediate need, the counselor asked about Bella Marie's career, her education, her skills. She handed her a Job Seeker Guide, prayed with her before she left, and told her one more thing: if she ever needed career guidance again, she should come back and ask for Greg.

Bella Marie held onto that. She had no idea how much it would matter almost a year later.

In July 2026, Bella Marie found herself out of work again. That same weekend, she happened to see Tessa at a shopping center near her home. They did not talk. But Bella Marie said that moment felt like God tapping her on the shoulder, reminding her of the support she had found at RLC and the advice she had carried with her ever since: go back and ask for Greg.

So she did. Greg sat down with Bella Marie and her son and asked how he could help. She told him she was not looking for just any job. She needed work that would let her provide for her son, put her skills and experience to use, and offer a place where she could feel safe and valued.

Greg listened, and then he acted. He mentioned that he had recently talked with someone connected to the Real Life Center Orchard about an open position that might be a fit. He took her information and told her he would see what he could do. Before Bella Marie even left the building that day, Greg came back to tell her he had already reached out.

While she waited in the food pantry that afternoon, another team member, Toni, prayed with Bella Marie and her son. At one point, the power went out, and they simply pulled out their phones for light and kept talking. Small moment, but Bella Marie still remembers it. Something about that whole visit felt different.

Here is the part Bella Marie did not know yet. Michael Crozier has led the RLC Apple Team in our orchard since the very first tree went into the ground many years ago. He also runs Crozier Medical, the family business his father, Jimmy, started and from which he has since retired.

For weeks, Crozier Medical had a vacancy they could not seem to fill. A long-time employee was retiring, and an earlier candidate who seemed promising fell through at the last minute after a lot of time and hope had been invested. Between the busyness of the business and the disappointment of that experience, the search for a replacement kept getting pushed down the list. Michael's wife and the rest of the office staff were stretched thin.

During this time, Michael's father, Jimmy, had mentioned the opening to Greg during a phone call. But between one thing and another, nothing had come of it yet.

On that same morning in July that Bella Marie was speaking to Greg at the Real Life Center, an overwhelmed Michael prayed for focus. He drove to a hospital to cover a surgery and decided that as soon as he finished the surgery and got back to the office, filling that position was finally going to become a priority.

After meeting with Bella Marie, Greg thought of the job opening Jimmy had mentioned and wondered if she might be the right fit. He was not sure the position was even still open, and he could not track down Jimmy's contact information, so he asked Dixie, the RLC Orchard Director, if she had it.

She did not have Jimmy's number on hand, but she did have Michael's. So, she texted him right away to explain that Greg was trying to reach his father about the job opening.
Michael called back within minutes. As it turned out, he was the one responsible for filling the position, and he had simply been too swamped to make it happen. He explained that he had just finished at the hospital and was heading back to the office to finally get the opening out into the community. It was the same morning he had prayed for focus.

Dixie handed the phone over so Greg and Michael could talk directly, and from there, things moved quickly.

Bella Marie went in for two interviews with Michael and his team. What struck her right away was how genuine the conversations felt. They wanted to know her as a person, not just a resume. She noticed small figures of Jesus around the office, a quiet detail that put her at ease. By the time she received the offer, she could look back and see how a whole string of small moments−a familiar face at a shopping center, an old piece of advice, a phone call before lunch−had all lined up to lead her there.

Then Michael shared one more surprise. He told her about the Apple Team he leads in RLC's orchard and asked if she and her son would like to join. She said yes without hesitation. Now the same orchard that helps put fresh food on the table for families across Coweta and Fayette County has two more people tending it, people who once relied on that food themselves.

Bella Marie put it best in her own words, reflecting on Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” She could not always see where the road was leading, but looking back, she can see God's hand in every step.

That is what we get to witness here at the Real Life Center almost every day. Not just a meal or a job, but the quiet, patient way God works through ordinary people, a text message, a phone call, a familiar face at just the right moment, to provide for His people. We are grateful to be a small part of the story He is writing in Fayette County, Georgia, and across our community.