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A Good Word

Never Give Up

I am so grateful that God did not give up on me. Rather, He was—as Francis Thompson’s poem so eloquently describes Him—the “Hound of Heaven.” His love is relentless. To say His grace is simply “amazing” sounds rather trite—and has to be the greatest of understatements.

When I think of this abundant love He lavished on me when I was so lost in sin, I am ashamed to think of how often I have given up on people—people entrenched in lifestyles that perhaps were repugnant to me, or ways of living that I simply couldn’t understand. People like strippers and prostitutes, and those addicted to drugs, alcohol, or pornography.

But aren’t those the very people our precious Jesus came to save? Aren’t they the ones He spilled His blood to redeem from the pit of hell—every bit as much as He did those things for me?

Recently I traveled with my husband, who is a journalist, to a halfway house for women in northern Illinois. John had an appointment to interview the husband/wife team who staff the facility, as well as the four women currently in the program. Called simply “The Farm” because of its rural location, New Life for Women is a five-month program designed to provide residential care for women once enslaved by prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism, and other life-controlling issues.

Having experienced some of the horrors of alcoholism with my own father, I went prepared to see some not-so-attractive behaviors. Withdrawal is not a pretty sight. During one of several classes the women must attend daily, I halfway expected someone to interrupt the speaker with a colorful barrage of four-letter words. Instead, women sat with pen and notebook in hand, taking copious notes as Pastor Rico taught them from the Bible. And more than just note-taking, these women were involved, regularly giving verbal assent and hearty “amens.” When class was over, I felt like I’d been to church.

Most of the women we met had been ravaged by either alcohol or heroin—or both, and one had prostituted herself to finance her habit. Most had children, but had long since lost custody of them. Desperate to make changes in their lives, and recognizing their need for God’s intervention, they came to The Farm. When we met them, they had only been through one month of the five required—yet they were remarkably poised and articulate, gentle and humble. They are in the beginning stages of actually believing that God loves them and has a plan for their lives—that He can use them in spite of the bad choices they have made over the years. And that knowledge is setting them free.

I went away feeling a bit sheepish. These are the same kinds of people I have given up on in the past—I thought they were beyond help. God reminded me that He came to seek and save the lost—and that if I have the mind of Christ, like 1 Corinthians 2:16 says I do, I will be about that same business.

PATTY KENNEDY is assistant web content editor for the national Women’s Ministries Department. She also writes book and music reviews for Pages and Tunes, a free e-newsletter provided by the national Women’s Ministries Department.

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