Wednesday, September 26, 2012

An Uncommon Story

          Prayer is a vital part of our relationship with God as Christians, but also to our purpose of the pregnancy center. Before meeting with clients, our volunteers circle together to each pray over the day. Before the door opens once, the women entering our facility have already been wholly covered in prayer. Their appointment is on purpose, and God is about to move.

Such is the case with today. One of our beautiful volunteers prayed over her appointment before even knowing the girl’s name, age, or situation, and He listened. God makes no mistakes, nor does He allow a single oversight. This client came to this specific Community Pregnancy Center to talk to this specific volunteer specifically today. James 5:16 assures us that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Prayer moves God. Bold prayers excite God into incredible action. Not a single factor of today’s appointment was untouched by the hands of God, because our Creator is personal, precise, and so very faithful to provide.

This young client is 21 years old, not an uncommon age for our girls. She is also unmarried, which is also a highly typical response. Her case seemed simple. The answers on her intake sheet were not a surprise to her volunteer counselor. She greeted the client and led her to their counseling room, beginning a most unforgettable conversation. The story behind this client’s general information ran so very far beyond “common”.

She suffers from bi-polar disorder, a condition she currently cannot mediate due to this possible pregnancy. She alone cares for her only son. She is denied Medicaid, though she provided her driver’s license and social security card, because her birth certificate is in Ohio. She has no family support, and she has no financial support. Every facet of her life seems to be a worst case scenario. Despite her complicated and hopeless reality, her deepest grief lies elsewhere.

On September 22, 2012
Just 4 days ago
The father of her son, the man she loved since she was 13 years old died without sign or warning.

They haven’t even performed his funeral.
The pregnancy test read positive.

          The grief, the pain, and the confusion are absolutely unimaginable. Where is the hope? Where is the Sovereign Hand of God? Where is some cosmic example of Jesus in something like this? Absolutely everything in this girl’s life is going wrong, and then she loses her best friend.

This is anguish.

“And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly,
and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Luke 22:44

Prayer. This day began with prayer, and it most certainly ends with prayer. When the test is negative, we pray. When the test is positive, we pray. When a client spills a story of utter agony out of her soul, we pray. It’s always about Jesus. Only He can hold her psychological illness together without a doctor’s hand. Only He can father her fatherless children. Only He can provide every earthly and heavenly support her needs could ever demand. The answer is always Jesus, so together with our Christ-believing client, we claim Habakkuk 3:17-19.
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights.”

Pray for this young client as she walks through these unbelievable days with her Savior. Pray for confirmation as she sees her baby’s life through a sonogram.
He’s listening, and I thank Him with every part of my heart that He is present and active, working these meetings into truly Divine appointments.