{"id":169,"date":"2025-02-15T10:51:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T10:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atwtheblog.wordpress.com\/?p=169"},"modified":"2026-02-26T00:46:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T00:46:01","slug":"when-grace-found-her-and-love-responded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/when-grace-found-her-and-love-responded\/","title":{"rendered":"When Grace Found Her… and love responded"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Present day…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Piiii piiiii piiiiiiiiiii’ the sound of the ambulance  brought Darlene back out of space.<\/strong>
She realized she was still in the parking lot at the hospital; she raised her head to look in her rear view mirror and saw a face awash with tears, bloodshot eyes from crying and mascara running down it.
She had just received news at the hospital and it wasn’t good.
About 2 weeks before that Darlene realized she was feeling weaker and more tired than usual. She also had lost appetite and didn’t feel upbeat.
To be honest, she wasn’t that much of a happy person even before but this time she could tell something was medically wrong.
So she decided to visit the hospital. Between her two jobs it was difficult to find the time but she had to when she nearly passed out while taking orders at the diner where she worked evenings, 5 nights a week.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After running tests the hospital promised to call her back. And well today was her call back<\/strong>: <\/strong>And they gave her the news. She had breast cancer that was rapidly progressing. Darlene was in shock.<\/strong>
Tuning back into her day, she started the car and slowly drove out. When she got to the apartment complex, she was surprised she wasn’t involved in any kind of accident and that she had actually made it home in one piece<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darlene slowly climbed up the stairs to her one bedroom apartment. She lived alone. She walked slowly to the fridge for a glass of water and then sat down on the floor in front of her sofa in the dark.
The ambience suited her just fine.
There, she sat and took a slow travel back in time…….<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darlene was born an only child to the most caring parents. They raised her in love, giving her the best they could with what they had. They were not wealthy, but they were comfortable. What Darlene remembered the most was how much peace and joy was in their home. Her parents always radiated so much peace. Her mum always told her it’s because they loved the LORD and he loved them ba<\/em>ck.
At 17, right after high school graduation, while waiting to hear back from the colleges she applied to, Darlene got a job working at the library. Three weeks into her job, and she met Carl. Tall, charming smiley Carl, blinded by his outer looks, she did not see the darkness within. He claimed he was a sophomore in college and was home on break. Though she shied away from him at first, he was persistent, and she soon began to hang out with him. Soon enough, Darlene began to change in small ways, not noticeable to her but to her parents. Her looks, her speech, and her responses all started to change. While Darlene wasn’t a mousy quiet girl, she lived rightly according to the Biblical principles her parents taught her.<\/em>
But Carl told her she was missing out – that there was a world of excitement and thrill. What he left out was that it was a world that took you, chewed you, and then spat you out, and if you aren’t lucky, tear you into tiny shreds that you won’t recognize you<\/em>rself anymore. While Darlene could not place her finger on it, she felt drawn to the world Carl was opening to her. She became defiant, she barely made time for church activities and hardly studied her Bible or prayed. she wanted to the ‘IT’ girl of their small town. She felt intoxicated by the parties, the attention, and soon enough the drugs. when school resumed, Carl convinced her to come back with him. Like someone under a spell, Darlene agreed. Darlene came home and began planning how to leave without her parent’s knowledge.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sweetpea, can we talk?” Lena knocked and entered her daughter’s room. Despite the change in her in the last few weeks, they tried to still treat her with the love they always did. it wasn’t easy, but they were determined to bring their daughter back through love and patience. “I just wanted to tell you baby girl, that we love you very much, just know that we don’t hate you, we will never give up on you and we are always praying for you” Darlene rolled her eyes, and grunted in response. Lena gave her daughter a kiss on her head and went out. But Darlene’s mind was already made up. She must leave home and explore the world<\/em> with<\/em> Carl<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul was at work when he felt a heaviness. He knew instantly that it had something to do with his daughter – Darlene. He closed his office door and began to pray earnestly. He was still praying when his phone rang. It was Lena, his wife. On answering, he h<\/em>eard her say,’She’s gone, Paul’. Paul dropped the phone and knew why he felt the push to pray. He told his assistant he was going home and left. When he got home, he met his wife in their daughter’s room crying. He took the piece of paper from her and read slowly,”Mom, dad, I have decided to leave home and live life on my own terms. I do not like the path you guys want to take me on, <\/em>and I am going to forge my own. Don’t look for me. – Darl<\/em>ene” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul was in shock, he held his wife and comforted her. They held hands and prayed asking God to protect her. They spoke with the police who said there wasn’t much they could do but the police chief being their friend promised to do all he can. They knew the best they can do is pray: and pray they did.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darlene’s leaving was hard for her parents, but it also strengthened their resolve and faith. They never gave up on God trusting that He gave them their daughter, and He will bring her back. They called and sent messages until her number no longer connected. A year passed, then 2, then 3. And still, they did not give up. Somewhere in their heart, they knew their little girl was not going to be lost forever.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Darlene left with Carl, it was exhilarating for her. He rented an apartment complex off the school campus. She took on jobs so he could go to school, and they agreed that she would continue her education when he was done and got a better job. The apartment was not much, but he kept promising her they it would get better. The first time she got pregnant, Carl was furious. He claimed it was going to mess up their plans. He complained until she gave in and he drove her to the clinic to abort the child. The days after the abortion were dark and gloomy. She felt used and unworthy. Sex with Carl no longer had any appeal for her. Soon enough it began to affect their relationship. Carl was getting tired sad, depressed Darlene. Soon what he did behind her back was in the open. He was spending time with other women and didn’t care if she knew. But they both hanged on for whatever reason. Carl barely graduated and got a job as a salesman. Darlene enrolled in a community college and started taking night classes. But they could barely make ends meet. The years rolled by and one day Carl came to her with an idea: to sell their fetuses for money. Apparently a friend had told him that their was a lab somewhere that paid big for fetuses and needed people to sign up. Carl told her they needed was at least 6 pregnancies aborted and the money will last them a lifetime. Darlene couldn’t believe her ears. That Carl was willing to kill their babies again and again not caring about the implications including the psychological and health impact it will have on her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carl came home from work 3 weeks after he had proposed the idea of selling their fetuses to Darlene. He was getting tired of trying to convince her and as punishment was not touching her. He opened the door and noticed something was different. He went to their bedroom and saw that some things were missing. Darlene was gone. Her personal.items were gone too..but she left behind every other thing but not a note. It was as though she didn’t want anynreminders of him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

she picked up her purse got out of the car and made her way towards the console the waiting room on getting in she stopped suddenly just couldn’t believe her eyes there was her parents her sister and their pastor baby was shocked to the core she did not expect them to show up the call phone call the voicemail he left her there without clutching at straws but here the way both her parents got up and moved towards her with outstretched arms her sister and their pastor Close behind with tears streaming down their faces they had each other with Debbie saying I’m sorry over and over and over again he just couldn’t believe that they showed up for her despite everything we are done she remembered the hot words that he exchanged before you left to remember her mum she remembered her mum crying her sister pleading with her not to leave home to remember the ignoring the phone calls from their pastor pastor Daniel remember telling them to leave her alone so she could enjoy her life now hit the way showing up for her headed toward it’s ok you don’t need to apologize and you actually don’t need to cry of course we were going to show up for you her mum today how much they had prayed over and over again for this miracle for God to bring their baby back home to them how they are Old Church never stopped praying for his safety never stop praying for her and how she is going to go back home had that looked at her and told her no matter what happens you are our daughter you are our own you are ours and we will never leave you to face any of this alone pastor Daniel 2K hands and looked at as a Debbie and you you right from the time you were born and as one of God’s people I knew that God has special plans for you and we kept praying for you and we knew that he was going to bring you back home that’s why I will never give up on you and now here you are he said Jesus told us in his word I will never leave you nor forsake you and Isis children we try to carry out this words for families of our friends and for the flock that he has entrusted us with now this is what I am trying to communicate are there things that your family has done that you find it difficult to forgive their we’re friends or when did you that you are finding it difficult to get past have you found yourself in the place where you are all alone and you’re wondering who is going to show up for me as a Christian the first thing you need to know is that Jesus will never leave you right from the day you are cepted you believe then you confess him as lord over your life he was never going to leave his word tells us that I will never leave you nor forsake you as I was with Joshua I will be with you he never intends to leave us you need to remember that no matter how tough the battle he never leaves us he’s always there and the best part of it is that he sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell in the inside of us so no matter what kind of situation it is that you’re facing today no matter what the problem is no matter how alone you feel just remember that the Holy Spirit is in there inside of you and all you need to do is to speak to him and then be quiet and listen for his reassuring answer he will never leave you know nothing that I want to draw your mind Tuesday we know the kind of world we are living in today a lot of us need a helping hand we need a comforting word here and there you need to believe and belong to a local assembly this is where you draw your strength you need to mix and fellowship with other Believers and when you find yourself in a situation you need to speak to your pastor you don’t need to face it alone remember even when Jesus was in the garden before that last moment he asked he asked did three disciples to pray with him take a cue from this you do not need to face it alone speak to your pastor speak to your cell leader speak to your cell members let them come together and agree with you in prayer you don’t have to carry that burden alone and here is the other thing god did not just create us and send us to the hair salon we all came through families you can rely on your family and you can’t rely on your friends but then this is the most important word I want to leave with you you to show up for somebody be dependable pray for the brethren pray for your family pray for your friends pray for your pastor pray for Believers around the world let us show up for each other in prayer in word in action no matter where you are be there show up for somebody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Present day… ‘Piiii piiiii piiiiiiiiiii’ the sound of the ambulance  brought Darlene back out of space.She realized she was still in the parking lot at the hospital; she raised her head to look in her rear view mirror and saw a face awash with tears, bloodshot eyes from crying and mascara running down it.She had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspective-mondays"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ha-long-bay-south-china-sea-vietnam-1024x1024-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions\/326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/withlovedivine.com\/wld-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}