|
HOPE
Luke 7:37-50 NIV
“When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that
town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she
brought an alabaster box of perfume, and as she stood behind him at
his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then
she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on
them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he
said to himself, ‘ If this man were a prophet, he would know who is
touching him and what kind of woman she is – that she is s
sinner.’
Jesus answered him, ‘Simon, I have something to
tell you.’
‘Tell me, teacher,’ he said.
‘Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One
owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them
had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now
which of them will love him more?’
Simon replied, ‘I suppose the one who had the
bigger debt canceled.’
‘You have judged correctly,’ Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon,
‘Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me
any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped
them with her hair. … You did not put oil on my head, but she has
poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have
been forgiven – for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven
little loves little.’
Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are
forgiven.’
The other guests began to say among themselves,
‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’
Jesus said, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in
peace.’”
Sharp, professional, business owner, and a single
mom…all those words describe her today – those words and much
more.
But that is not who she was the first time she came
to the pregnancy center. At that time she was living on the street.
She was addicted and desperate. Prostituting herself to support her
habit, she was a victim of her own past and the series of bad
choices she had made. She was a lost cause if ever there was
one.
How could a story like that get any worse? She was
pregnant. She simply could not, should not, have this baby. A friend
brought her to our door because her name was Hope – and so was
ours.
Fortunately, we do not counsel from our own wisdom
and experience. We are bound to a God who offers hope. We a re
prisoners of hope and cannot run from that truth even when it seems
that hope is lost or surely misplaced. This “Hope” was surely lost
AND misplaced, but God gave us the gift of being part of His plan
for her life. Unseen realities and whispered potentials all live
within our walls and reside within our spirits. There is a God who
assures us of that hope, which is found in Christ alone.
We did not believe that this woman could ‘pull
herself up by her bootstraps.’ We did not think that we could
deliver her from her circumstance. We did not even ‘hope’ that
everything would turn out okay. We put our hope in Christ Jesus
alone and in His redemption, His power, and His Word.
Jesus gave us many examples in the New Testament of
meeting the present need. One such example is found in the scripture
preceding this story. The woman in that story had sinned much and
she was forgiven much.
We knew she had a very present need to escape the
lifestyle she was living. After much discussion and many, many phone
calls, she left the area to go to a drug treatment center, and we
prayed for God to protect the child she carried, not knowing if we
would ever see her again.
Months later she came in – clean, sober, and
beautifully pregnant! God had done an amazing work in her life. He
had prepared her heart to take in the truth of His unconditional
love for her. She invited Christ to take control of her life, and
has been growing in her commitment to Him ever since that day. He
calmed her fears and proved His faithfulness to her by giving her a
beautiful, healthy baby girl. As a testimony to her new
understanding of His love for her, she named the baby Grace.
Hope and Grace – that sums up what happens in the
pregnancy center better than anything else we could say. He IS a God
of unlimited hope, and He is the one who gives us the grace to
understand and receive that truth.
Because of that, the description in the first
paragraph of this story describes who this woman is today! If you
met her, you would never connect her to the client who first visited
us on that long ago day.
Now she writes articulate thank you notes to us and
puts Scripture references at the bottom of the card! She makes
Christmas gifts for us, bakes homemade cookies, and speaks to
ladies’ group on our behalf.
She is growing in her knowledge of God’s word, and
she is implementing it in every area of her life. Hope and Grace are
two of our most dedicated Walkers for our annual Walk For Life
Event! Now the one who came to us needing a blessing IS a blessing
to our whole ministry!
The phone will ring again at any moment. It will be
a young woman who is lost and afraid. She may be addicted and living
on the street. She will fear that she might be pregnant and will
wonder if we can help.
We will tell her to “COME ON IN!” This is a place
of hope and grace.
Hope Pregnancy Centers
Broward County, Florida
Buy Stories of Hope today, at the link below.
| 
