Persist in Believing

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I woke to “bbbring” notification sound on my phone. Before I say more, who can remember mimicking your grandmother’s black rotary phone that sat on the little table in the den?

It rang and we’d all run to tell her, in harmony, the cousins coming down the hall, singing….” burring…bbbrrringg…bbbrrrinnnggg”

I digress.

But, I’m smiling.

I reach for my phone, Matt Steelman, the pastor of Newspring Church in Aiken is making an announcement. “Oh, and Lisa’s on, hey Lisa”😊

Our transitional shelter, Nurture Home is one of three recipients of their offering. A generous donation is headed our way.

Nurture Home

By now you might be asking, what about Advent, what about the Book of Luke?

This is where I say, God’s word and God simply blow me away.

In chronological order, I open my Bible and I see Jesus teaching about persistence through a parable about a woman who refused to give up, she is known as the “persistent widow”.

“And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭18:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Jesus told a parable that included a lesson about a woman who knew she deserved justice, knew she deserved better.

Like the widow, we motivate and empower women to seek better, to justify themselves despite what led to their homelessness.

Sometimes, we ourselves are called to model traits like persistence.

All nonprofits do year-end appeals. We frame our requests for money around a story of one we served or a certain type of plea.

This year, I decided to be clear.

I asked the readers of our letter in paper or on their screen to consider how our work might resonate with them. How they may relate.

Our year-end Giving Appeal is called We Need You Now.

MHA Aiken County, nor any of our programs are “faith based”, except for the way I try to persist every day in bringing my faith to work with me.

Thank you for allowing me to talk about work, it seemed a waste to waste a true story of not losing hope to maybe peak your interest about the woman who persisted in the Book of Luke.

The woman like me, the person like you, to whom Jesus is saying:

Do not lose heart. Pray and do not lose heart.

If you’re looking to make Christmas even more joyful, more connected with Christ and others or if you’re just curious about this church with a cool and kind pastor and congregation who love people and love Jesus, visit Newspring in Aiken or just a church somewhere.

Newspring Christmas Services all weekend

Anywhere, just a place at Christmas to go, to be still or to be excited.

A place to find hope and heart,

Jesus there.