by Lon Graham, Vice President
Every life is a story.
Like any story, it will contain comedy and drama, tears and laughter. There will be characters that come and go, and ones that abide throughout the whole narrative. And there will be moments that define the story.
At New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries, we are blessed to see these moments on a regular basis, moments in which a life is redefined and its future is rewritten.
We see it in the lives of our children. We see them begin to trust one another and the adults in their lives. We see them helping each other. We see them growing in their faith. We see them learning skills that they will carry with them throughout their lives. We see them giving back to the community.
For example, on October 26, we partnered with the American Legion to go to the Portales Cemetery to clean the graves of both veterans and past residents and leaders of the Children’s Home. This not only taught them the value of community involvement; it also gave them the opportunity to learn about the history of the Home, the people who paved the way for what we do today, and the hardships faced by those who went before them. Seeing them so engaged in helping their community like this was a blessing, and it is just a small part of how God is rewriting their futures.
It is not just in the lives of the children that we see this kind of transformation. Our Family Ministries are also blessed to be a part of these special moments. Through our Bridge to Hope Ministry, we see people passing their GED exam and moving forward with their lives in a positive and hopeful manner. We see families reunited because they met the requirements mandated by the courts. Through our Hope Counseling service, we saw, in just three months, over one hundred people receive Christ-centered counseling that was a part of their journey toward healing.
We see generational changes for families that begin with one member. Above all, we see God use our efforts to rewrite the futures of children and families throughout our community.
If you are reading this, then your story is not yet finished. There are two things that we need to understand about our lives as unfinished stories. First, once a chapter is finished, it cannot be changed. We all know this, but I think that we do not always want to admit it. Our past is unchanging and unchangeable. There is nothing that we can do to make it be any different than it is.
For some of us, this is no problem. For others, the past is a source of pain. Those chapters are full of tragedy, tears, and heartache. Part of the work of healing that we do here at NMBCH is helping people understand and not be controlled by their past.
The second thing that we need to understand about lives as stories is related to the first: our present is, in many ways, the sum total of our past. Again, think about how a story works: the plot of the story moves the characters along. Choices that the characters made influence and impact their later choices. Things that happened to the characters determine what they are able to do at subsequent points in the story. Where you are now is a product of where you have been. The choices available to you now are the result of choices you made in your past, choices that you cannot change.
What we are left with is this: our past is unchangeable, and our present is a product of our past. But there is one thing that we have yet to introduce into the equation, something that can reinterpret the past, re-envision the present, and rewrite the future: grace.
Grace is a creative and disruptive force. It is disruptive in that it can change our trajectory. It is creative in that it does not simply change things but makes them new.
We see this aspect of grace throughout the Bible. Abram was an old man without children, worshiping idols in a comfortable land with his extended family. His story was going to be that he was a successful man who left behind a considerable fortune to a servant in his house. He would have no children, no heritage, and no future for his name.
Grace entered the picture, however, and Abram (“exalted father”) became Abraham (“father of a multitude”), the father not only of the Jewish people but of all the faithful.
Moses was a murderer who was on the run from the law, living as a shepherd in the wilderness. He too was an old man. His story was going to be that he lived in the wilderness for several decades, where he would no doubt die, hopefully before he was found by Egyptian authorities.
Grace entered into Moses’ life, however, and he came to lead God’s people out of slavery and to the Promised Land.
David was the youngest son of his father, not exactly a place of prominence. He was a young shepherd who stood in the shadow of his older brothers. His story was going to be that of innumerable other younger brothers in the ancient near east: work hard, have a family, and try to eke out a living.
Grace came into David’s story, and he became God’s chosen one, the man after God’s own heart who would reign over God’s people and inherit the promise of a son who would sit on the throne forever.
The examples could be multiplied, but the point is clear: the grace of God, when it comes into our lives, changes our story and rewrites our future.
At its most basic level, the purpose of New Mexico Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries is to be a conduit of grace in which we get to see God do what only God can do in so many lives. Whether it is to the children who call this place home or the adults who come to us for help, we aim to be agents of God’s grace for them all. We want to be used by Him to show people the power of His gospel and the grace it brings.
We thank God for every life changed and every future rewritten. And we thank all of our ministry partners – prayer warriors who continually lift us up, hard-working volunteers who come to our campus and do amazing work, and sacrificial givers without whose financial contributions we would not be able to continue. Thank you for staying with us on this journey to which God has called us.
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