More Than Words (Marli, Hannah's Heartbeat Newsletter Column)
“Do you really think you can change women’s plight?” people often ask me. I answer, “Together with his church and by God’s grace – you bet I do!” I see it happening every day as I watch Project Hannah’s teams responding to God’s call to love as he loves, introducing Jesus to women everywhere!
God’s purposes and universal call to goodness echo in every human heart. But for his follower, there is even more – he lovingly prepares good works for us in advance. Project Hannah teams are walking in such good works and their efforts are magnificent, albeit difficult. They do this not because of the daunting need before them, but because of the “small voice behind them” leading the way. This holy exercise of trust, obedience and faith in God is rewarded with the joy of being his “agents of change” in these troubled women’s lives.
Jesus invites us to defend the weak and live out his love in humility, integrity and simplicity. We need to look beyond our sanitized lives and be willing to touch the wounds of this hurting world. Millions of brokenhearted women face unthinkable abuse and injustices. They gasp for hope, healing and real love with every breath. If we refuse to share with them in their pain, why do we expect them to listen to us when we share the gospel with them?
In my book When Hope Wins, I tell stories of God’s transforming grace through Project Hannah teams. But ten chapters simply can’t contain all God is doing as these women visit patients in AIDS wards in Angola; widow’s huts in Cambodia; fistula hospitals in Ethiopia; prisons in Asia, Europe and South America; filthy brothels in Nepal and as they teach life skills, set up micro-businesses and open ‘Hannah’s Houses.’ When women’s lives are changed, they change their environmental conditions and the cycle of hopelessness is broken. I’ve seen women crawl out of the pit of despair and walk with Jesus into a new life of dignity. Transformed by his power and the love of others, they become God’s agents of change themselves. Amazing grace, indeed!
Karen Mains’ call to the Church resonates deeply in my heart: “Oh, that Christians understood that the Church is a birthing place, where life is encouraged in the middle of this death-camp world . . . a place where we can do spiritual labor within its shelter; a place where the agony of becoming is overseen by experts and awaited by concerned friends . . . a place where we participate in one another’s travail and where we share joy and exhaustion when our work is successfully accomplished. The Church must be a place where mercy is given before judgment.”