‘God always makes a way that you can help people:’ How Portia Combs connects with her community 

A woman sits on a bed in a nursing home, eyes closed, praying over a patient next to her, who is cradling a baby doll in her arms. 

 
As the woman prays, the patient pulls the doll closer, murmuring comforting phrases, as if to quiet a crying child. The woman ends her prayer and kisses the doll’s forehead, tears shining in her eyes.  

Portia Combs, a minister within her community in Hazard, Kentucky, often finds herself connecting with people in this fashion. She visits people like the patient, Sadie Pray, a longtime friend and member of Combs’ church, to share a message of love and belonging.  

Not only does Combs pray with close friends, but she also connects with people in thrift stores and grocery stores. As a religious figure in her town, Combs says that she feels called upon to share God’s message with the people around her.  

“You can go to the United Grocery and you’ll catch me praying for people in the fruits and vegetables,” Combs said. “I go out there and I preach and I minister to people.”  

While shopping, Combs often stops to talk to people she knows and complete strangers. According to Combs, talking to her community and making these connections help her feel God’s presence in her daily life.  

Jen Amburgey, a friend of Combs’, says that people like Combs make her feel loved and supported.  

“I told her I had cancer and she prayed for me right in the store. Some people say they’ll pray for you and they don’t, but not her.” Amburgey said. 

Combs does not take this mission lightly. Not only does she pray with people in her community, but she donates food, books and clothes to churches and individuals in Hazard. She also packs bags of toiletries, clothes and canned goods that she hands out to homeless people she finds while running errands.  

According to Combs, she has found ways to help her community her entire life, singing in church, repurposing and donating furniture and making her home a safe space for people to come to.  

“I’ve done this since I can remember. When I was a little bitty girl, I was going down cleaning old people’s houses that was sick and stuff.” Combs said. 

While Combs says that she feels a peace now, the struggles she endured led her to her faith and sharing it with others. Combs lost her mother when she was 11 and was raised in church with her sister, which sparked her connection with God.  

“The bad times that we get in sometimes is the thing that makes us want to love him more and hold on more,” Combs said. “God can wipe everything out of your system in just a word.”  

For Combs, feeling God’s presence is what allows her to help others in her community. She uses her past experiences to connect with people that she finds in stores or running errands, helping them through vulnerable moments or difficult times in their lives.  

Helping people around her is what drives Combs, something she believes that God has called upon her to do. 

“How I know that God is real, it’s this feeling that you get inside, it’s just deep in your gut, in your heart, you know. He’s like that still, small voice that speaks to you.” Combs said. 

Combs shares this voice with the others around her, in hopes that they will find the same love that she experiences through her religion.  

Before retirement, Combs owned a hair salon where she held prayer groups and created a foodbank for people in need, all out of her own pocket.  

The people she helped through her salon still reach out to Combs to this day, often praying together in stores.  

Throughout her life Combs has followed the mission that God has given her, and encourages others to do the same. To her, community is built on love and faith, something she emulates in her personal life.  

“You do what you can for the people that you love,” Combs said. “If you’re not willing to help your own when your own is in trouble, don’t expect somebody else to do it.” 

Combs continues to share her faith with her community because prayer is more than just words for her, it is a way of life. 

“I love my church. I love the building. I love the people, and that’s what God is about.” Combs said.