God Had a Different Reason

I shadowed a counselor yesterday at a crisis pregnancy center to learn about different counseling techniques. I won't give any other identifying details since the session is confidential. What I can tell you is that the pregnant woman seemed happy, secure, confident, and just needed some material help with the new baby when he/she arrived. Part way through the session, which included a beautiful synopsis of the Gospel and the offer to accept Jesus right then and there, the woman began crying. Again, I can give no details, but she was overcome by how much she had messed up her life in the past, and she was grieving for all she could not erase. Apparently, she was still reeling from the repercussions.

I could sit silently by like a mute shadow no more. This is why I stink at shadowing. I am so eager to heal, to fix, to love, to help, that I can't sit there and not try to help. Next time I will warn them to duct-tape my mouth shut.

"Honey," I said, "If I could erase the ten years before I came to know Jesus, I would. But I can't. What I can tell you is that the moment I asked Him into my life, I knew that all that terrible stuff I had done was forgiven, completely washed away from God's sight by the blood of Jesus. That grief you feel for the things you have done is a blessing! It shows you that your heart is tender and your conscience is strong.  Changing my life from the moment I accepted Christ and forward was not a burden. I wanted to do it. I wanted to be better because I loved Jesus so much for what He did for me. It is not that life's obstacles were removed. They were not. But my feelings about them changed and how I responded changed. You are not alone in this."

The counselor then hopped in with her own very remarkable redemption story. She had experienced night and day lifestyle change as well as a miraculous, verifiable, instantaneous, medical healing. I don't know about the pregnant woman, but I just wanted to leap to my feet and shout, "Hallelujah!"

When it was time to go, the counselor ran out to get some pregnancy pamphlets for the woman. The woman stood and looked at me, "Oh, that's right...I almost forgot my pregnancy was the reason I came in today."
"But I think God had a different reason," I said smiling.
"Yes," she agreed, "And I almost didn't come. My mom told me I should."
"I'm glad you did," I said.
"Me too," she answered, still dabbing at her teary eyes.

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John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have life everlasting.