God at work

'I'm a whore.'

She has come downstairs in the night. I can see that she has been wrestling with this for a while. She has found me in the kitchen preparing the lunch for tomorrow. I have my head in the fridge looking for vegetables to add to the soup. So mundane, caught up in the practical aspects of caring for each of these women.

I stand up and wait for her to say more. I can see that she has expected complete revulsion or a patronizing denial from me. I have given her neither. Now she is surprised that I am still looking at her with that same acceptance that she has found since she came through our doors. I think she would be surprised how completely I understand what she is facing.

I see her shoulders relax as the burden she has been avoiding for days is eased from her shoulders. Christ's work is happening before my eyes and I have not even said a word to her yet. The truth of what she has said is undeniable. Her addiction has cost her much. The more thoroughly the darkness is exposed the more thorough she can be in letting go of the past.

I close the fridge door and turn to guide her from the kitchen to the couches in the living room. She has come from the east side of Vancouver to escape the life of addiction and poverty and be exposed to the light of Christ here in this home. As I walk a prayer of praise and worship sings in my heart. I pray for wisdom, it will be a long night, but a night of miracles too wonderful to imagine.