the Redemption that gives me Hope

This time of Lent has been a time of restoration for me. It has been a time where God has reminded me of His power and my own finiteness. It is a time when He has reminded me of the miracles I've seen through His grace in action this past year and the continued promise of His redemption moving forward. Especially as I've looked forward to Easter, He has reminded me that He saves - And I’ve felt restored.

I think sometimes in our busy, very earthly lives it is easy to forget that God is ALIVE and moving and working to redeem lives and societies and institutions, every day. It's easy to forget that there is something bigger than our daily schedule, bigger than ourselves, to live for and be excited about. There is something more God wants us to see and seek:

Our Savior WANTS to do more than we could ever ask or imagine in this world. I've been reminded of that and filled with hope this Lenten season. He wants us as the Church to BELIEVE this, to pray for this, to make ourselves available for the unbelievable things He wants to do among us. I am grateful to the point of tears for the reality of His grace He has shown me this past year. He has taken my eyes off myself and renewed my faith in His glory, in His power - He has given me a glimpse of the things hoped for.....through my friendship with a woman here in inner city DC.

This past year my husband and I have had the opportunity to walk with this woman, who has become a dear friend, as she has come to know Christ and is learning to walk in the full life He has for her. We have seen her begin to break out of the destructive cycles that have trapped her since she was a young girl. We have seen her eyes opened to the life God desires for her, have gotten to celebrate with her as she was baptized, and have gotten to walk with her as she has chosen LIFE. I've seen God open her heart to words from myself and others and have seen the Spirit lead her to choose life for a baby she almost gave up. As I've walked with her this year I've seen her wholeheartedly seek to become more of the mother God created her to be for her struggling older son who now lives with her again. I've seen this hurting boy begin to ask questions about Christ and recently ask if he could be baptized - and a couple weeks after Easter, we will celebrate his new life in Christ through the waters of baptism.

So even as my heart has been broken this Lent especially for the many, many more kids in our city who are trapped in the same cycles my friend and her children have been trapped in, Christ has reminded me of His power to save as I look at the redeemed life of my friend. I've seen how He has not forgotten her kids, how my husband and I are godparents to a beautiful baby who brings such joy to his mother and all those around him.

This Easter I will rejoice as we celebrate Christ's resurrection. I will rejoice in His power, not my own strength, but in His power to redeem even the most broken situations and hurting people. And in a few weeks I will rejoice in this resurrection power together with my dear friend and our godson as we celebrate her oldest son's baptism - and I'll be filled with hope even as I think of the darkness that still exists, reminded of what our Savior can do.

God reminds me of all this even now as He has put a deepened burden and compassion on my heart this Lent for the many children of our city who are hurting. He has renewed my hope this past year in the reality that He will NEVER forget the vulnerable. He desires to change this broken, twisted inner-city culture of abusive relationships and violence and single mothers and poverty and neglected children. He has increased my faith, the substance of things hoped for, through seeing what He has done in the life of my friend and her children- and through what He is still doing today.

And He has increased my excitement as He has reminded me that He wants to use US, the Church, to be the ones to help supernaturally change our culture and spread His redemption.  As I've seen Him use my husband and me just by being in relationship with our friend and her kids, I've been filled with hope as I've realized He doesn't expect us to figure out the best strategy or come up with the most convincing words. It's not on me. It's not about me. His huge vision is so much bigger than me. I can just stand, just rest in Him - just love as He has called me to love.

This Truth has changed my life this past year and allowed me to go deeper in my intimacy with Him. What He asks of me, of all of us, is to BELIEVE. Believe in His vision of redemption, open ourselves up to the power of His Spirit, and love the people He puts in our path.  We can start changing our culture with just one person. Through investing in one child, we can help change the norm in our cities. He wants us to BELIEVE this and seek to further His redemption wherever we are - trusting in the power of the Spirit for whatever part He wants us to play.

I really believe what John Piper recently quoted from James 4:2: "God does things he would not have done if we hadn't prayed." God listens to us. He desires for us to intercede on behalf of the vulnerable. And he responds. He aches to further His redemption in this world. And He delights in using us to do it.

I believe God uses this time of Lent to teach us to walk more in step with Christ, seeing more of what He sees, identifying more with him in His pain, and learning to intercede before the Father in a deeper way. Because when Easter comes, I believe God wants us to be reminded of the HOPE of His Resurrection as it relates to these broken areas that are now etched deeply on our hearts.

So I don't believe it is an accident that as I’ve walked with my friend and her kids this past year, as my husband teaches a group of hurting inner city kids every day, and as I work with my church on developing an initiative focused on the foster care crisis in DC, that God would burdened my heart like never before this Lent for the vulnerable children of our city. There are 1400 kids currently in the DC foster care system, and an ADDITIONAL 1700+ others who are close to entering but are still in their homes...not because they are getting the standard of care they deserve, but because DC government doesn't have the capacity to take them out. There are not enough families to take them in. 

As the Church, I firmly believe we should be the first people our governments think of when it comes to helping the least of these. We should be leading by example, providing such excellent resources and care that the government comes to us first to help care for the most vulnerable in society. I firmly believe God has called the Church in DC to partner with our government and ensure all kids have the homes God desires for them. I have been filled with such hope as I’ve seen God open the doors for us to do this, and been reminded again of God's power to save and His desire to use to be a part of it.

I truly believe God wants to MOVE to change the situations of these children in DC, and that of vulnerable children across the world. As He has moved in my friend's life, I believe He wants to move in so many more, changing their futures and the futures of their kids, as He has done for my friend and her children.

I've been filled with hope as I’ve seen the Church in DC begin to come together around the issue of foster care and other issues close to God's heart. I believe God wants to affect the deeper, larger issue in our culture to prevent broken situations in the first place - and it has been so exciting to see the Church put aside differences and individuality and work together in Christ's name on these systemic issues affecting our culture.

I’ve truly seen God MOVE this past year in supernatural ways, and believe more is yet to come. So even as I've walk with Him in His brokenness this Lent, I've been filled with such hope looking at what He has done and looking forward to His Resurrection - and what will be.