A Life Transformed
Over the six years she has lived in our women’s home, our dear Lupita has struggled and struggled in her spiritual life. She felt that she had surrendered her life completely to Christ, and yet, she could not seem to walk in victory over her flesh. When she read the bible, she would say, ‘yes, I believe this is true, it’s the Word of God…” yet, as much as she believed it to be true, it didn’t seem true for her, only for others. She continued to struggle with intense feelings of hate and jealousy towards others.
Lupita is a hard worker, but also a perfectionist. She consistently was placing her standards for herself on others, especially the others at the house, and it was toxic to the environment in the home. She caused many emotional hurts to herself and to others, and her actions were causing harm to the cause of Christ in the home.
God put it into Kathy’s heart months ago, that Lupita needed to experience the tough love of God, so that He could break through the darkness and shine His light of truth. Over the course of several months, Kathy and the staff prayed fervently for God to lead the steps that needed to be taken. No one wanting to do it….but confident it was the love of God that was reaching out to her.
On the 2nd of January, Kathy met with Lupita, along with a close, dear friend of both of them, Cristina Alvarado, (who also happens to be her pastora) to share their concerns. Lupita was not surprised nor resistant. She had asked God to change her, and, in fact, on New Years Eve had pleaded with God not to let her live another year the same as she was.
During their meeting, they told Lupita that she would be removed from the Hope House program, which included losing her scholarship to continue studying at the university, and moving out of the home for at least one year. They talked, cried, and prayed together. She knew it wasn’t their plan to abandon her, but, to walk through this time with her. Before any other decisions were made, Cristina and her husband offered Lupita a solo time of retreat with God at their beautiful ranch for two weeks, and Lupita accepted.
Kathy had prepared a guide for Lupita’s time there – scriptures for each day to read, meditate on, pray over, and seek God over. At first, Lupita was fearful, anxious and depressed. Alone, face to face with Him, she could not run and hide any longer, and the grace and love of God broke through. Day five, Lupita pleaded with God that she wanted to really know Him and for her eyes to be opened…and God revealed Himself! She began to ‘see’ the truth of her condition. She began to realize that although she knew all the right answers and knew how to ‘do’ the right things, she had never been transformed and made a new creature. Before, she would have adamantly insisted that she was a born-again believer in Jesus. But, now, she realized that it was all self-effort. Only God could have opened her spiritual eyes to ‘see’. She now saw clearly that she was lost and blind
There, at the ranch, Lupita made the decision to surrender all to Christ, and in response, the Spirit of God came in like a flood! The young woman who stands before us now is a new person. No one can deny the work that God has done. Lupita shines with the love and grace of God now.
She is overflowing with gratitude to God for not giving up on her… for doing what it took to open her eyes. She is sharing her testimony with anyone who will listen. She is making repairs in the relationships that have been damaged. She is humbly walking forward into this year, completely trusting God for this journey, and full of joy. God is in the business of transforming lives. We are excited to share more about Lupita and her journey with you in an upcoming newsletter.