Today we are recording interviews with some of our past patients and current staff for a partnership event coming up in May with 106.7 The Light. This is an exciting opportunity for HOPE and for pregnancy centers in Tennessee and the Carolinas. We will have more details on this in the near future, but today I want to share with you the impact your gifts are having.
This morning I have been sitting and listening as stories are told. Many of these stories find their genesis at the same place…sadness and fear. This is the reality of our work. Many of our patients walk in our door with doubt and shame. They are not sure of the next step or what tomorrow may bring, but they know that help is needed. This is where HOPE comes in.
Our staff is gifted and equipped to assist our patients with meeting this new reality head-on. We do not gloss over the seriousness of unplanned pregnancies and the choices our patients face. We choose to, instead, walk with them through this news and the journey they are preparing to take.
We understand that our words carry a certain amount of weight. We understand that a word of congratulations may have never been spoken, but needs to be heard. We have seen the impact love can have in the darkest of moments. This is why we choose to love and not shame, care and not neglect. This is why HOPE was opened in 1997. We believed then and we believe now that support is needed for our patients and we have been compelled, some may even say called, to stand up and be that support.
We often champion our partnerships at HOPE. We celebrate every new donor, church, and volunteer. We could not do this work without any of you, but we must never forget the courage of our patients to choose to walk inside our doors. They are facing a substantial amount of obstacles, yet they come.
I am amazed at the bravery of our patients and staff as they walk into the mess together. Loving people, regardless of their circumstances, is very difficult, but it must be done. Being willing to open up about past regrets and current failures is difficult, but it, too, must be done. This is what happens in our exam rooms at HOPE. Brokenness meets grace and grace overflows.
Many have said that you cannot possibly save them all, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. It is our honor to serve this city and our patients and we are grateful for every story of HOPE that is told and for every life those stories represent.
