I answered my phone, and immediately her the quivering in her voice.
“Thank you for taking my call,” she said.
“Yes, of course, I’m glad we could connect. What can I do to support you today?”
There is a long pause, longer than most. The kind of pause where you notice your own breathing as you wait for the other person’s reply. And I know. The tears have started to fall, and the brokenness is all around us in this moment. She has finally gotten to a place that she can exhale, and when she exhaled, everything within her flooded out.
After a few moments of us just sharing the space over the phone line, she takes a deep breath and begins to ask all of the familiar questions and comments that I get in almost every phone call.
- I have no one to talk to about this.
- How am I supposed to do this right?
- How can I fix this?
- How long will this go on for?
- I am so confused why I still love him so much and yet he is hurting me so much.
- Is there any hope for us?
I wait for her second exhale and tell her with a huge smile on my face.
Hope Will Rise
“Yes, yes, there is hope. I am confident in that. I have witnessed miracles that can’t even be put into words in the years I have been walking with women. I have seen what our God is capable of, so yes, there is hope.”
And with those words, we begin a conversation that helps her take the first step toward her own healing.
As I hang up the phone yet again with a woman who is desperate for healing, the Lord reminds me He asked me to be here for such a time as this. He says to my spirit, “Thanks for showing up. Thanks for holding that space for her, and thanks for offering her My hope.”
The Yes of Hope
Friends, there is nothing that is glamorous about what the Lord has invited me into. There is not a magical equation He offered me over anyone else. God simply extended an invitation, and I said yes. That’s it! That’s the magic.
God has taken it from there. There are days I get off the phone, and my head drops immediately as my heart weeps over the tragedy a woman has just shared. I feel the weight of her story in my bones. I don’t own it, but I want so badly to fix it for her. So I pour my heart out to the One who can actually do something about it. He whispers to my soul, I’ve got her, Lyschel. She is mine. I have never left her or forsaken her. I have had my hand in motion on her behalf from the beginning. I have big things in store for her and right now she needs Hope. So for today simply offer her hope, give her a safe place to heal, and let me do all of the work. And again, I surrender to his agenda and say yes.
Saying Your Yes
Why do I share this? I’m guessing it’s because someone needs to hear this today. Someone needs to know that there IS a safe place prepared for them to heal. They need to know that others will understand and receive them with grace and honor. There are others who have been given an invitation, and yet, they haven’t fully accepted it. They have yet to give their full YES to the Lord. Maybe because you need to know how it’s going to end before you say yes. Maybe it’s because you can already predict the failure that is surely to come. Maybe you haven’t given God your yes because you find it hard to believe He has actually chosen you. It’s got to be a mistake. Right?
I constantly live out the scripture “for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10) when I am parenting and doing ministry work. So today I pray you find this as a fresh word to move you into your YES. You have the gift of hope, too, and you can freely share with those that are on the other end of the phone needing to hear about.
Traveling with You in Hope,
