Miracle on Hope Hill by Carol Kent & Jennie Afman Dimkoff

Author:Carol Kent & Jennie Afman Dimkoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books

All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you.

—PSALM 38:9 NIV

CHAPTER 22

The Church That Practiced What It Preached

BY JENNIE AFMAN DIMKOFF

The reason we go to church is not because we have our lives together, but because our lives are broken. It is a hospital for people who are hurting and need healing and wholeness.

—REVEREND CASE ADMIRAAL

Sitting in the family pew, clutching her keys, and ready to bolt, Maurene’s tears started to roll as the pastor stepped up to the pulpit with the letter in his hand. Her kids were with her, but her husband Jim was on a business trip. Maurene felt frightened, exposed—and ashamed.

Addressed to the congregation, it was a letter of apology from Maurene herself. After years as a faithful office manager, she had embezzled funds from the physicians she worked for. The next day she was going to court to be sentenced. There was the desperate hope that she would be put on probation, but deep down, she and her husband knew better. She would be sent to a federal prison.

She and Jim had decided that it would be better to be up-front with their church family rather than let them hear the news from rumors, or worse yet, the newspaper or television. The fact that they were volunteer leaders made the confession all the more painful. As Maurene sat there with the pastor reading the damning words of her confession and contrite apology, her six-year-old daughter sat beside her on one side and her nine-year-old son on the other. Putting her arms around them, she hung her head in shame and waited for the stones to fly.

Maurene felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw her friend Kristi in the pew behind her, gently offering what she had least expected—love and support. There were tears in Kristi’s eyes, and Maurene started sobbing as the pastor continued reading.

Maurene’s letter was not only a confession and an apology, but also a request that the church not hold her mistakes against her family. Instead, she asked the church to help care for them while she was away paying the price for her sin. Amazingly, arms reached out from everywhere, and rather than running from the church that morning, it took Maurene over an hour to leave because so many people wanted to encourage her in some way!

Driving home, she praised God for leading them to that wonderful church twelve years before. She realized there were other things to be grateful for as well. The day that had started out so miserably had become a day of hope and an opportunity to count her blessings. She could hardly wait for Jim to get home that night so she could tell him what had happened. Would God work in the heart of the judge tomorrow as well?

• • •

Although Sunday had been a blessing, the reality of Monday and the dread that accompanied it was inescapable. Maurene and Jim drove to the courthouse at the state capitol an hour away for her sentencing.

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