Hope is confidence with expectation. We live in a world that doesn’t know Jesus or the hope that He can bring. We know that God is in the business of changing identities and changing lives, as evidenced by every single person that He has saved. We know Hope, and we can live in confidence and with expectation!

Let me share with you the testimony of Sasha, an Agape client, and how HOPE changed her life:

In 2014, my parents got divorced. That seems like a simple thing, but I knew what it meant. I knew that my dad would feel lost and become self-destructive. I knew that my family would be broken forever. I knew that my “stability” was gone I was right.

I began to drink to escape the grief over “losing” my family. I quickly spiraled out of control. By 2016, I was homeless, on drugs, and living in my car. I wanted to take my own life. I had made my family situation worse, and I had become a burden on each of them.

I didn’t know how to change my life. I was in a cycle of bouncing between jail and treatment. I was sent to prison from 2016-2017. Within a month of getting out, I began the same cycle of addiction, treatment, being clean, and arrests. In 2019, I found myself back in prison until November of 2020.

When I got out, I went into treatment for 8 months and then into a sober home for 4 months. I was surrounded by other people who were “broken.” I watched them “making it” and knew there was hope for me, too.

Once I got my own apartment, I soon found out I was pregnant. I was really scared. I paid for an abortion because I didn’t know what else to do. After I saw my baby on the ultrasound, I knew that I couldn’t go through with it. After a week of thinking about my options, I drove over to the abortion clinic and asked for my money back. I decided that I was going to be a mom!

I started to immediately talk with other single moms. I began to make a list of all the places that had helped them. “Go to Agape,” they told me.

I began my first visit at Agape by sharing my story with the staff. The whole, messy story. No filter, no edits, just the truth. I was so surprised – they welcomed me with open arms and no judgment. They listened to me and encouraged me. They saw that I was vulnerable, and I needed help. They helped me express some goals and helped me reach the goals that I didn’t even believe, in the beginning, that I could reach. But you know what? They believed in me, and I started to believe in myself.

When I first came to Agape, I had a blow-up mattress on the floor. Now, I have a fully furnished apartment with a bedroom for my son Easton. I have a full-time job, I’m enrolled in college and starting an internship, and I have reached my first savings goal of $5,000. So much has changed, and Agape has been beside me the entire time cheering me on!

Because of my experiences at Agape, I want to become a social worker. I want to be the person who meets people like they met me. I want to offer others help and hope.

I can honestly say that I never knew a place like this existed. A place that meets people the way they are… broken and lost, alone and sad, overwhelmed and afraid. They are truly inspiring. I will never be the same.
 
Sasha knew she wanted something different, and she is not alone. This world knows they are missing something. Different is possible. Different starts with us. We must focus on an internal strengthening and effort in knowing our God and His Word. We must quiet ourselves, read our Bibles, live “salty” lives, throw off complacent worship, love and meet people where they are, and follow Christ with total abandon. This is what draws people like moths to a flame. This is what causes people to change.

 Jesus. Changes. Everything. 

May the Hope that we have continue to draw the hungry, the thirsty, and the broken to the Well that never runs dry, Jesus Christ.

Additional Scripture: Hebrews 11, 1 Peter 3:8-22

Worship Song: “Hope Has a Name” by River Valley Worship