Divine Compassion
One of the ways a pregnancy center ministry like ours reflects the Lord to our clients is through our compassion.
Compassion is the first attribute God uses to describe Himself in Exodus 34:6, which says, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God…” According to the Topical Lexicon, the Hebrew word for compassion in that verse “conveys the warmth of parental compassion, a mercy that is neither detached nor reluctant but eager to relieve misery and restore fellowship.”
We’ve experienced compassion from God ourselves, and we are glad to be compassionate with our clients. For example, a mom of four children came in for her parenting class after having surgery. She sat in a chair in the corner and looked so sad. Her surgery was required because of her previous drug addiction, and her husband had just lost his job.
“I feel so guilty for how our lives are now and the difficult financial situation we are in,” she said.
Our director offered her some water, sat down beside her, and listened. She was able to replace the lies this mom was believing with truth — that the mom was valuable and precious, not worthless. She helped the mom pick out a few spring jackets for her children from our baby boutique and let her borrow our little wagon so she could get the supplies home with ease.
The client’s eyes welled with tears. She said she hopes to be able to grow closer to Jesus, overcome her issues, and share her testimony someday.
That’s just one example of our compassionate God at work in the lives of our clients—relieving misery, creating fellowship, and restoring hope!