Not a make over or a do over…

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

In a small Oregon community, a 13-year-old girl, Ella, recoils from the impact of years of unhealthy relationships in her life. Unable to process her feelings, she sinks deeper into disappointment and abandonment.

Two weeks after her 14th birthday, Ella gives birth to a little boy.

Through the lens of statistics, the die is cast.
Game over. Welcome to the road of life with no exits.

Predictions become reality. Ella is kicked out of her home, baby in tow. With each new couch she sleeps on her dignity wanes, to say nothing of her prospects for a future.

But God.

God extends a message of hope through a young woman in our mission. Ella was no longer alone. God has not written you off. God does not look at statistics.

This was not a make over or a do over… it was a transformation.

The scandal of grace is that broken, desperately alone 14-year-olds with infants in arms are invited to embrace “new.”

The scandal of grace is that I’m more like Ella than I am like Jesus, so this message is desperately good news for me as well.

… and Ella said yes
to Jesus.

When Ella uttered the word “yes,” her world didn’t change, but her heart did, her prospects did, her story did.

Mercy and hope and love washed over her. There was no cosmic eraser, just the power of redemption.

The old was gone. The new had come.

For Ella. For more polite sinners, like me.

Transformed.