Home of Hope 1

Home of Hope Teen Challenge 1:
There aren’t enough words in the universal dictionary to try to express the way it feels to be present in the Home of Hope, Teen Challenge in Casa Grande Arizona. That sounds cliché but it is exactly how I feel.
I work in the world. I live in the world. Almost all of my life’s dealing’s are in the world. Being in the world is easy when you are of the world. But once you cross that line and become out of this world and in the light, you begin to recognize the dark nuances of sin and evil that didn’t strike you as unusual or bad before. And so it goes for me.
I crave spiritual milk and the presence of God’s love and goodness every day. By Sunday, I am starving for it. Reading the bible and talking to God every day just isn’t quite enough to replenish my spiritual strength. I need God’s love and spiritual nourishment and fellowship at First Assembly to wash over me after being in the shadows of evil all week. I crave and need it to get me through another week in the world. It shows, when I am away too long. My worldly thoughts and feelings creep in and try to take over who I am.
But there is one place that fills me to overflowing with a sense of God’s grace, peace and love that no other place in the world can do. Walking into the Home of Hope is like watching a living breathing world full of God’s miracles. You can feel it in your entire body, soul and spirit when you walk in those doors. I walked into that place last year looking for a sale. Instead, by the grace of God, I renewed my own fire for God again. Never in any other place have I witnessed such restoration, selflessness, depth of love for others, and commitment to Christ and His Word. The everyday things we take for granted in the world, are stripped down to the very foundation of truth in this place. The women can’t just be angry or ignore responsibilities without having to reflect on the foundation of their emotions or actions. The women reflect on what ‘wound’ they carry that makes them respond in that way. They have to learn how they can extract that pain and replace it with understanding and the essence of who God made them to be. These women work through the tough self evaluations to understand and get through the brokenness before the world tore them apart.
Where I have spent years making time to read my bible, talking and praying to God, listening to programs, their day revolves around God and His Word. They live and breathe Him, not just visit once in a while. They reflect His light in their spirit and it shows on their faces. Oh, they don’t always recognize it to be true. These are broken women who still look at themselves as unworthy and damaged. They don’t always see how God has used them. To them, they are simply doing what they should do. But I see that they are the perfect choice for showing God’s great mercy, grace and miraculous power. He chose exactly this type of broken person to serve as His disciples. They are broken and humbled before Him and willing to do anything to serve Him for rescuing them from their Hell on earth.
They pray for each other. In fact, if you have a need for prayer, I advise that you give it to them. When the women of Home of Hope hold you up in prayer, things happen. It is awe-inspiring to see. They support each other. They reflect on their thoughts and hold each other up in prayer instinctively. Where I might sometimes rely on my strengths to resolve an issue in the world with my own solution, they instinctively pray about it and let God give them the answer. Where I might not even think about the food on my table or the shoes on my feet, these women reflect a deep appreciation and sincere love for those people who support them with even the slightest donation. Nothing is small or irrelevant in their world. They are truly humbled, forgiving, grateful, strong and blessed. They learn God’s world by being immersed in it, and due to that, their absorption is faster, deeper understanding and more insightful than any I have ever seen. They live in, and study, His Word, not just read it. I am in awe of how God has blessed this Home of Hope and the women and children in it.
I don’t know how you view them, or if you look that closely, but I can say that supporting these women with every single gift that you can give, large or small, will give back to the community hundred fold. A sponsorship is not a free pass to these women. Remember their view of themselves is humbled and broken. A sponsorship to these women brings tears of joy, feelings of not being rejected by society, a deep sense of gratitude, a desire to prove your gift is not in vain, a feeling that they might be worthy after all, the ambition to work through their pain and fear to get to the place God wants them to be. Many of them choose to continue to serve in the Home of Hope to help other women through the pain they have suffered. They understand that they aren’t just struggling through addiction; there are real life issues that brought them to the point to drown their pain. But mostly, it teaches them to parent with God to raise their children. It brings their children to God. It raises a generation of children in the Word of God. It spreads the morals and values our country used to be founded on. It spreads love, peace, hope in the future and restoration.
The Home of Hope rescues our children/parents/siblings from the grip of Hell, offers their lives to God and gives them back to the community as whole spiritual contributors with a deep sense of love and appreciation.
Giving to the Home of Hope isn’t just a tax deduction donation and a monthly letter of the women’s praises and struggles. It is a blessing and investment in bettering our world.