Because You Are “Called”

Have you ever considered the word “called”? Paul uses the word often to describe what takes place when we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior. 1 Timothy 6:12 “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession.” But “called” also describes a special appointment or work that God assigns each of us. Called is an action we are to take for the gift of life that we have been given. When we receive Christ, it is not just a submission or acceptance of his grace, but an action to the life he has called us into. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 “That our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” I am so thankful that each of you has heard and accepted his call – salvation. And that you are performing the call – work that He has appointed you.

Good Samaritans

Everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan found in Luke 10:25-37. Have you ever considered yourself and the work you do to be like that of the Good Samaritan? As you remember from the story, the priest and the religious people ignored the mugged and beaten man in the ditch by the road, but the most unlikely person of all did help him – the Samaritan. The people we are called to help are also in a ditch — often stripped of all pride and esteem, beaten down by shame, dead in their sins, and do not feel like the church accepts them. They need to hear that God loves them and accepts them just as they are. We are the bearers of that message – we are their “Good Samaritans” that God puts in their path. You are “the one that has mercy on them” (Luke 10:37).

Unity – Being One

I shared these verses with the new client advocates during training but wanted to share them with the rest of you this month. My pastor, Dr. Bill Purvis, at Cascade Hills Church in Columbus, GA shared them a few weeks ago and they have stayed on my mind. Jesus prayed for all believers this prayer found in John 17:21

“that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

As Brother Bill shared the message, I could not help but think of Women’s Hope and why I believe we have been blessed for 30 years. Jesus underscored that the lack of unity in the church is a significant impediment to our unchurched clients. When you look at the world and see how many different denominations and churches exist, you can see why nonbelievers are confused about religion. Oftentimes, we believers don’t even agree on what core doctrines we hold true. At Women’s Hope, even though there are many denominations represented, there is only one message shared, and that is Jesus. We’re not pushing our church or our personal preferences; we are sharing the love of Jesus — that all a person needs to be saved and filled with hope is to recognize and acknowledge their need for Him as Lord and Savior of their lives. This is not to say that you cannot invite clients to your church, but that first and foremost is sharing Jesus. He didn’t belong to any special denomination.

Letting “His Word” Do the Work

I want to encourage you to use what God has provided and has promised would never return void or empty — His Word. Isaiah 55: 11 says, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty.” Janet Wadsworth, who was instrumental in starting Women’s Hope 30 years ago and still meets with clients, often says she wants to memorize more Bible verses because there is power and life in His Word. Her goal is to use His Words to minister to the needs of others. As a Christian of 40 years, I have much of His Word stored in my memory due to years of Bible studies, sermons, personal devotional time, etc. Yet, when I begin meeting with clients, I worry sometimes about what to share and how to share it. But I needn’t worry. It is amazing how much of His Word I have retained that the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Not that I can tell you the specific chapter and verse most of the time, but I know that God reminds me of a verse or story from His Word that I have not looked at in years. Many times I meet with people who tell me they can’t do this work because they don’t know enough. Not! If you study or read the Bible, listen to sermons, sing hymns, or participate in Bible classes, you know more than you think and God will make it enough for the client at hand. It’s time to put His Word into action and trust Him to reveal His Word that is in your heart. The psalmist says, “I have hidden your word in my heart” (Psalm 119:11). My pastor Dr. Bill Purvis said that one of his life lessons of 30 years in ministry was to “let the Word do the work.” That is a wise observation.

Here are a few verses that talk about why the Word is so important.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” When we speak the Word, we are speaking God’s Words into the life of people.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword” Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my Words will never pass away.” His Word will always be relevant and timeless. Just as it was 2000 years ago — it is still relevant today.

Colossians 3:16 “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.” His Word is appropriate.

Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” His Word will always lead you down the right path.

Ephesians 6:17 “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” The Word is a part of our wardrobe and armor. We will not be effective unless we have it and use it everywhere we go.

John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth, your Word is truth.” John 6:68 “Jesus you have the Words of eternal life.” When you are sharing His Word, you are sharing the truth and you are sharing how to have eternal life.

How are we to live and to tell others to live? Matthew 4:4 says “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.'” Jesus quoted this Word from Deuteronomy 8:3. Even Jesus knew the power and life giving source that the Word has for people.

I encourage you to search and meditate on His Word. You never know when or how God will choose it to be used for your edification, as an encouraging word for your clients, and for His glory.

Living Beyond Our Circumstances

What do Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and Joseph all have in common? They chose to live beyond their circumstances. They chose to ignore what other people thought — they were going to do what was right — they were going to look to God and do what He said was right. When the King mandated that everyone was to bow down to worship his golden image, everyone said “the King has said we must do this, so we will.” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said in Daniel 3:16-18 “O King, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O King. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. ” Daniel and Co. refused to stop praying to God as the King ordered. God honored their allegiance by shutting the mouths of the lions in Daniel 6. Oh, if we could only learn from the experiences of our ancestors in the Scriptures! Like Daniel, our circumstances also test our measure of faith and who we are going to serve. If you need another example, Joseph rarely had ideal circumstances — his brothers sold him into slavery and his bosses’ wife tried to seduce him and had him thrown in jail for rejecting her — but he did not look at his circumstances; rather, Joseph sought God. Genesis 39:2 says “the Lord was with Joseph and made all that he did successful.”

When I meet with young women in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy, they are caught up and controlled by their circumstances and feel helpless and hopeless. Many are worried how their parents will react and whether will they be disowned. I had one young lady where this was a real concern. She was from Nigeria and knew that abortion was wrong but also knew that a pregnancy would bring shame to her family and she would be cast out and unable to return to her home and family. Another lady was very highly respected in her church and was worried how an unplanned pregnancy would impact those who looked up to her and depended on her leadership. Talk about extremely difficult circumstances. One lady by choosing to have a baby would be in a foreign country, cut off from family and taking care of a child by herself; the other lady would very likely lose the respect and position that she enjoyed and felt privileged to have. What to do? Viewed from circumstances only, they may feel there is only one option—abortion. But God does not want us to make decisions based on our circumstances; He wants us to make decisions based on HIM. Circumstances can mislead and cause us to look at what is best for us — it makes us self-focused. In contrast, God wants us to focus on Him in every situation for He truly knows what is best for us. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

I am thankful for places like Women’s Hope and our client advocates who serve these young women. You are helping them to look beyond their circumstances and to the One and Only, who cares and knows what is best for them. Thank you for leading others to HIM!

Having a God Confidence

I cannot believe this month is my 4 year anniversary of serving as Client Services Director at Women’s Hope. When I began volunteering as a Client Advocate 7 months before taking this position, I had no idea that God would lead me down this road to support and encourage others who would join this loving effort to save and restore lives. I am so blessed by those God has sent to serve. Julie, our clinic director and nurse manager, and I often talk about the college students who serve for a couple of years and then leave us to begin their life work — they really keep us renewed by being so excited and eager to make a difference. They encourage us about the future that we are going to have strong Godly leaders. And of course, our old timers never cease to be a blessing — they offer much wisdom, encouragement, and Godly council not just to our clients, but to the new Client Advocates and to me. They show us how to stay the course and finish strong. I am thankful for the workers God is supplying on this mission field at Women’s Hope in Auburn, AL.

As I look back on how far God has brought me, I am amazed at the “God confidence” I have gained, and one of my favorite things to witness is the God confidence you have gained. When I first began at Women’s Hope, I had no idea what God wanted from me. I remember standing in the parking lot before my shadowing shifts thinking “Lord I cannot do this — these people have real problems and need help that I’m not able to give. Are you sure I am the person for this?” That is when God began to show me that it was not about what I could do but what He wanted to do through me – that I didn’t have all the answers but had to depend on Him to supply everything. Pollyanna, our executive director, explains this by saying “we are looking for Client Advocates who are scared and concerned about the work, because then we know they are seeking Him to provide the words and the love that need to be shared.”

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story of David and Goliath. I love the words and the great confidence in God that David displayed when he faced Goliath. Just think about a ruddy face child standing before a great giant warrior proclaiming that His God will prevail. Oh, to have the God confidence of little David! He knew that without God, nothing was possible but with God all things are possible. Look at what David says in 1 Samuel 17: 45-47

“David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.””

I pray that we will all have the confidence in God that David displayed and that we will know that without God, we are but a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal — I Cor. 13:1. Only through the Holy Spirit working in us are we able to bring hope to the hopeless, love to the unlovely, and healing to the broken.

Take the Hard Road

encouragingservants

Here’s a nugget from my childhood.  It’s from my mom.  She counseled her three girls . . .

  When given a choice between a hard road and an easy road, take the hard road.

 Was she kidding?  As the youngest and (probably) most spoiled child in the family, I wasn’t sure if I bought it.  As I have matured (notice I didn’t say older), however, I have come to understand my mom’s old school wisdom.  Let me explain. 

 I’m the first to admit I enjoy all the gadgets and widgets that make our lives easy today.  Take my smart phone.  It’s the most amazing thing — I go shopping, take a picture, email/text it to Mike, my husband, and get his opinion, all in seconds.  But there is a downside to all the technology.  As a parent, you also see how media and electronics affect our children.  Sociologists call our…

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Comforting Others

One reason I love working at Women’s Hope is because you see God at work daily, up close and personal. This week, one of our longtime clients stopped in for a visit and to participate in our Earn While You Learn program. She is an amazing young lady who is always positive and energetic. Her life has been touched by sadness through many miscarriages and, even with her last pregnancy, one of her twins miscarried. She asked to speak with me because she had delivered her baby at 27 weeks and wanted to show me pictures. She grabbed her pictures to show me her new angel who only weighed a little over 2lbs! As I looked at the precious little bundle, the first thing I noticed was how the baby’s skin just seemed to hang off his bones –- the “bag of bones” look. My heart hurt deeply for her. The pictures took me back to another baby I knew that had been a preemie, a baby who also looked like a bag of bones, although he weighed a little over 4lbs and was a few weeks older. That baby was my own boy Jordan.

As we shared about the challenges of parenting a preemie, she remarked that she didn’t understand why the hospital required her to keep heated blankets on her body when she was bonding with her baby, as they were skin to skin. I replied that Jordan required similar treatment, and that I looked forward to him sweating so I could turn the heat off in April and May, since it was already hot and difficult to keep him swaddled in 3 blankets and 2 hoodies at all time. The reason is that babies that small cannot regulate their own temperatures. Moms have to help them.

I felt God urging me to pray with her and the baby’s daddy. God brought to mind the words I repeated over and over after the doctors told me that Jordan was going to be born early – that Jordan would “thrive on the outside!” It was my desperate plea for God to supervise a difficult situation – that regardless of his tiny body, his small “bag of bones,” the trouble he had in controlling his own temperature, and my fear in making a mistake ­­- that God would step in and help him thrive. As I prayed with them, I could not help but sob quietly, knowing that God had heard and answered my prayer about my boy and that Jordan continues to “thrive on the outside.”

It is so like God to bring two parallel stories together to bless us. What a joy to be able to encourage someone because you have already walked the same ground. And oh, that that boy, Jordan, who came into this world several weeks early and left the hospital at 4lbs 2ozs is now turning 18 on this April 7th, and will graduate from AHS in May. I thank God every day for answering the desperate plea of a young, inexperienced mother.

I am blessed to have the opportunity to share life with those God sends our way, and I know God is opening the door for YOUR life experiences, to bring glory and honor to Him while we encourage others during difficulty and challenge. I thank God for each one of you who have answered the call to share what Jesus has done for you!

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 says “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation, if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”

This is my prayer for all my volunteer client advocates: Philippians 1:3-6 “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Who Are You When the Going Gets Tough? Stayer or Strayer?

Who Are You When the Going Gets Tough? Stayer or Strayer?.

Who Are You When the Going Gets Tough? Stayer or Strayer?

Who are you when the going gets tough?  Are you a stayer or a strayer?  Why do we go through tough times?  What do we learn about ourselves and God during tough times?

 Tough times and testing are crucial and necessary times in our lives.  The Bible says God will test us.  He tests us to see if He can trust us, to see how much we love Him, and to see if He can depend on us to stay strong in Him.  Remember, our God is a jealous God.  The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).  He tests us to see if we will remain strong in Him and totally dependent on Him.  Remember how He tested Abraham with his son Isaac (Genesis 22)?   God tested Abraham by asking him to willingly sacrifice Isaac.  I think God wanted to know if Abraham  loved Him because He is God Almighty and the ultimate source of all we have and all we are—not merely  for the good things He gives us in life.  But testing is never easy.  Proverbs 17:3 says “the crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the heart. Job describes his testing in 23:10 “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”  These are examples of those who stayed the course, who passed the test, who proved their love and devotion to God.  God learned He could trust them and they learned that they really loved God and would follow Him no matter what.  Luke 8:13 says ‘Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.  They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they will fall away.”  This verse talks about the strayer s– the ones who fail the test.   God does not care as much about the talents, gifts, blessings, or callings that He has given you as much as He cares about whether you love Him and are committed to Him.  My pastor Bill Purvis says this often, “If God chose not to bless me starting right now for the rest of my life, I would still serve Him. Why? Because the blessings he has already given me, have already been more than I deserve and I would have no reason not to praise Him for all He has already done for me.” 

 God just wants to know that we love Him and will follow Him and He rejoices when we recognize the sacrifice of His son for us on the cross and enter into his eternal family.