The Ministry of Magdalene Hope: Heavy Heart

The Ministry of Magdalene Hope: Heavy Heart

Heavy Heart

I enter this blog with a heavy heart. I just left one of our clients not more than 10 minutes ago. I met with here at a neutral spot of her choosing to talk about possibly placing her in a sober living program. She had expressed to our street team that she wanted to get into a program so she could take the steps of getting off of drugs and stop prostituting herself and be a mother to her 6 children. She showed up a couple of minutes late and confessed that she had forgot about our meeting but said that she wanted to get into a program but just was not ready right now. I asked her about her kids but she quickly changed the subject as a john walked by that caught her eye. "That guy is looking to date me", she said with a look of I need to make my rent for my motel room (one that I have saw a hundred times before), and with that she said to me, "I'll see you around."

As I watched her climb into his car, I thought, man the devil just punked me and did me dirty...again. This kind of thing is nothing new and is pretty much par for the course for myself and our ministry. We can not get discouraged in our calling. Seeds were planted today and we have to remind ourselves that she was not ready today to make a change. We have to hold out hope that one day she will be ready to make a change and when she is we will be here for her with open arms. It still weighs heavy on my heart.

I am reminded of God's patience and Grace for me as I played "CHURCH" saying one thing on Sunday and doing the exact opposite the other 6 days of the week, but in that... I finally surrendered all to Christ 4 and a half years later. Which reminds me that God has a plan and a purpose for us all even if we don't act like it.

Even if it's 4 1/2 weeks or 4 1/2 years or 4 1/2 decades  Just as God was patient with me so do I need to be patient with others as they discover a love for Christ.

All Glory to God,

- Doug Bennett

Dinner with a "Maggie"

Hey everyone,
Thank You for checking out our Blog!
I wanted to share with you a visit I made the other day with one of our Girls.
I think it is fitting to call our Clients "Maggie's" short for Magdalene. Not only that but this "Maggie" name is the name of one of our FIRST MH girls we outreached to in the Ministry so that name is very fitting. I am going to propose that to the Leader man Doug B.
Anyway!

So we have been working with this Maggie for a while now, we lost touch with her and got back in touch with her again. The last time we got in contact with her she had been very sick and qualified for Disability. We thought YES!!! Let's get her application in. Well, she is taking the steps she needs to be approved for Disability, she wont have to prostitute if she gets these funds. But more importantly, she made a few very powerful successes in her life since we 1st met.

1. This lady "Loved Crack" Loved it very much, it was more important than anything else in her life and could not even imagine her life without it. She commented the day of the visit that she doesn't like it anymore. After Decades of crack use, she says she can no longer enjoy her high anymore and she regrets every time she uses it. She stated that it wont be long till she is off completely.
2. After the Dr.'s appointment we took her to, I invited her to eat dinner. Not a drive thru or a taco stand she is used to. I took her to a Nice Mexican Restaurant. She wasn't used to being in nice places. I asked her why she was so scarred to go? she said Cause, I don't want people to see me and I want to go home so I can share my food with my friends at the hotel. So, we entered the restaurant and she curled up in the corner of the booth hoping to be unseen, she kept looking for the cheapest meal and I explained to her that she could order whatever she wanted she still checked all the prices before she chose and then ordered something similar to what I ordered. As we waited for our meal to arrive she nervously looked around the room and I started to talk to her about her plans in life, goals, dreams things like that. One question I really wanted to know about was "What kind of man would you marry?" Maggie's response was "Who's going to marry me? Men are all abusers, I am never going to marry nobody, who's going to marry me anyway? No, Amy I am never getting married" I said, "well, they don't all hit women you know you just have to spend time with them and learn what kind of person they are and you'll see there are men out there that are sweet and kind and will love you", she said "No, they are all tricks I don't believe in Love like that it only gets you hurt" We talked about a lot of other things that night till her Hotel family called her and told her she needed to hurry up and get home to make money to pay her room for the night, the Owners were looking for her.

Magdalene Hope goes beyond just handing a bag of goodies to someone on the street and telling them that God loves them. It's more than paying a night at their room so they don't have to stand on a corner all night till they made enough money to survive off of that day. It's about building connections sending out a fishing line and snatching these women out of the swamp of a lifestyle they are in. Showing them fresh water to live in so to speak. That goes beyond just handing out a gift bag every other week and saying Jesus Loves you! We have to show it!

What are the things that you would do with someone you want to marry someday?

Do you ask them to marry you the first day you meet them? No!

You get to know them, You date them or Court them.....

You build a bond to them, they learn to trust you when they need you and they fall in love.

It's not enough to think that the Lifestyle of living for God is attractive. They have to fall in Love with the One who will propose Marriage that can save their life!

Build us Back Oh God!

Lord so many women are broken and in pieces. Reach out and build them back!

Use us as you wish to build them back up! Through the power of your Spirit and your Love!

Take back what the Thief has taken, Rebuild Hope in all who have lost it!

Love you Lord!

OUTREACH 1/7/11

Magdalene Hope Ministry UPDATE!!! from last night. Did a visit to start the night at 3B with "Kay" where they are observing her after thoughts of suicide from being raped:( so tragic! Prayed for her we will be back tonight. Visited with "Maggie" in her room and prayed for her and the area drug dealer. Then off to Unio...n Ave "Carnation District" where we handed out 7 gift bags in 15 mins.

We meet Nani, Christina, Terry, Linda, Toni aka T.K., Michele, and Tina. All but one appeared to be high which is usually the case. Hard to do what these women do sober. Please pray for all of them. Most were out trying to make rent and the......n getting in from the cold. Probably 45 degrees with a wind chill factor of 15. We ministered to all these women in about 15 mins. T.K. shared that her puppy had been beaten yesterday and that it had died. We prayed for her and when we were done she had tears in her eyes. God's presents was in that prayer and with us everywhere we went last night. Spent 30 mins with Kay and Maggie each. Long night with a lot of fruit. Oh yeah drug dealer to pray for is T.T. and she is a woman.

Thank you for partnering with us in prayer and finances. God Bless:)

December 8 2010

We had the wonderful privilege of having our client "Cathy" come and watch the first episode of this show. The whole team was there to watch it together today after church. We were encouraged and affirmed by the ministry that Annie has. We had an amazing night of fellowship and ministered to our client and friend! God is Good! His heart for these women swells with plans for a hope and a future!

Dec 3rd - Street Ministry

Friday Dec 3rd- Street Ministry Tonight meet @ 7pm Dagny's Coffee Company 1600 20th St.

Sherri was the first girl we talked to and she said "Is this a God thing?" and she broke down crying and said "I need help, I'm out there, I'm strung out and I'm doing bad" Beth hugged her and we told her that we could put her into a program and help her and we prayed for her. We got her information to follow up with her and are in the process of making contact with her... as we continued with the night we encountered stories like this with other ladies. We then left Union Ave. and proceeded to visit a client of ours who works at the truck stop near the freeway. Our client "Maggie" was in very bad shape she had a lot of pain in her body and we layed hands on her and her pain went away she was praising God and witnessing to the other prostitutes and drug dealers telling them about God! It was truly a miracle!