Second Chance God

God has wired me to be drawn to people in really difficult situations. Specifically, I really enjoy getting to know people who have been through great trials and are in the process of 'coming back.' I am at a loss for how to describe the way it ministers to my heart--but those kinds of stories move me to worship God in a way little else does. Hope, resilience, faith, courage, defying the odds...stories with these themes solidify my faith. I love stories where there is no other explanation for the healing and restoration but God.

I enjoy relationships with overcomers because they shake me out of my comfortable little life and paint a clear picture of the human condition and our desperate need for a Savior.

A couple of months ago I had the great pleasure of getting to know K. She was in my Esther group and, honestly, I was quite intimidated as first. She is a recovering alcoholic and addict (clean over a year) who has been through more than most of us can fathom--including losing custody of her three children. Would she find it ridiculous that a petite little doctor's wife was leading her group in a study subtitled "It's tough being a woman?"

I couldn't have been more wrong about her. K is a delight. Now that she is clean she has been given a chance to raise her youngest child--and by all accounts she is doing quite well. She lives in a tidy apartment in the projects and is still dealing with the severe consequences of her actions, but she is on the right track. K is faithful in church and Bible Study, has restored her relationships with her children and her parents and is going back to school. Her openness about her journey and the lessons she has learned about God's faithfulness in her recovery are incredibly inspiring to me.

K knows about the God of Second Chances.

Yesterday afternoon I took my children to play at McDonald's for a while to blow off a little energy on a rainy cold day. I could not help but get sucked into the story of a teen mother and her two very small children there for a supervised visit with a DFCS caseworker. She was enthusiastic and playful as she tried SO HARD to mother them in the hour or so she had been given. I cringed a little as she rolled around on the filthy McDonald's floor, struggled to connect with the baby whose appearance seemed to tell a story of abuse, unsuccesfully attempted to put her 2 year old in time out, and fed him two milkshakes and a fruit punch. (The caseworker did offer her tips on all these things and more.)

I was fighting the temptation to judge her when I overheard her tearfully tell the caseworker about the abusive relationship she was in (presumably what was standing in the way of her being reunited with her children). "I am 18, married with two kids. I cannot add divorced to that. No one will ever want me." My heart broke for that child and her children.

Does she know the God of Second Chances?

And do you remember KP? I haven't written about her in months. She delivered a baby this month and from stalking her on myspace I have discovered that the baby's Daddy has left her. He is a terrible influence on her. They have been arrested together. She was warned about him--and now that there is a baby involved it is not the least bit tempting to say "I told you so."

KP needs the God of Second (Third, Fourth...) chances more than ever.

Finally, there is the very wealthy woman I recently encountered who seemingly has everyTHING she wants in her picture perfect life. It takes only 5 minutes in her presence to become aware that beneath the surface of the picture everyone sees she is painfully lonely, empty and unhappy. Again, I am convicted of my flesh's tendency to want to roll my eyes at people like her. Quit your pity party. You have everything you want. Let me tell you about K, KP, J...then I am reminded that they (ahem, we) are all in the same boat. Lost, wandering with a God-shaped void that nothing else can fill.

I have been pondering all these thoughts when I 'happened' across Carlos' post. Amazing! That homeless man has no idea how many people he has ministered to by his act of worship. We serve a great God!