Embracing Hope: God's Transforming Love

This devotional is part of our Global Director, Susie Pek's, Embracing Hope series.

As I embark on this beautiful journey of caring for TWR Women of Hope and leading it into the future, I look back and ponder all the ways the Lord has led me. I wonder if you like to do the same when faced with changes. As we examine our pasts, we learn about ourselves, consider the changes in our lives and have the wonderful opportunity to make new choices. The best part is we get to be reminded of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness.

Just days before I started this season, a situation took me back to when I first came to know the Lord. The short version of the story is that I was raised by a Christian mom and a non-Christian father. My dad never opposed church or Christian living but was very resistant to giving his life to Jesus. I didn’t realize, however, that I was too.

I attended church and tried following some “rules.” I knew in my head that the Bible was true and that Jesus was the Savior of the world, but I had never really given my life to him. I heard people say Jesus had changed their lives completely, but I’ll be honest: The thought of being transformed bothered me. I thought I was cool and did not want to run the risk of turning into a dull person.

My “coolness” successfully hid a lot of hurt and pain from the eyes of the people around me. My life was surrounded by people, but my heart was still lacking in love. How could someone possibly love me? I tried dealing with all that in my own strength. I thought that suppressing the memories of the abuses and feelings of rejection would be enough. It wasn’t.

Also, I did not realize it, but I searched for unconditional love in all my relationships. I longed to be loved, accepted, appreciated and cared for, so I strived to be the best version of myself (within my understanding) to my family, friends, colleagues and boyfriends in the hope that I would earn their love.

In my first year of college, I was faced with a situation, and I knew that my response to it would be a turning point in my life. The choice I made would lead me to either a wonderful road or a terrible one. Deep within me, I knew Christ was the answer. So, I finally surrendered and gave my life to Christ. From day one, an intense transformation process started. The chaos in my inner world did not go away overnight; it took time. God’s love had reached me, but I still could not fully “receive it.”

Over the years, the Lord gently ministered his love for me through my quiet times, circumstances and people. It has been a journey of constantly receiving his love, knowing that he is the only one who is able to fill the voids in our hearts. He loves me in a way that nobody else does. He loves you in that same way. And his love enables us to receive love from others and to offer them love.

Although it took me a while to dive deeper into God’s love, from the beginning of my relationship with him, that love changed the way I saw the world. I heard many testimonies about the impact of prayer and wanted to have my own experiences. I wanted to touch the world through prayer. That same year, I could not hold back the tears when I heard the news of a major development in a political situation. I had prayed for such a change to occur!

That same love led me to pursue preparation to go into ministry years ago. Since then, I had the honor of serving in different ministries. I clearly remember when I first heard of Project Hannah, the original name of TWR Women of Hope. The words “compassion and prayer for women” touched my heart. I thought to myself: “One day I’ll work with that project.” I shared it with my husband and prayed about it. About five years later I joined the project. What an amazing journey it has been. I’m so thankful to be able to pray for women all over the world. To speak hope to their hearts. To point them to Jesus, our living hope.

My prayer and heart’s desire are that women around the world and across generations will “know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19).