Grant and Alia’s Story: How God’s Love Turned Us Outward

“Prior to Gospel Care and Restore, we were running on fumes, hemorrhaging in need of care and restoration...God answered so clearly, combating Satan’s lie...I wanted my pain to be felt, Jesus the man of sorrows had felt my pain. My story had been connected with God’s story...” These last two weeks, Grant and Alia have been sharing their story of where they were before they saw how God’s love was moving in their lives, and how He lovingly answered them. Now, we get to hear Alia tell how that shaped them...

Alia:

We decided to join Restore, because you can’t go wrong with knowing God and his word more, right?! Every time we came, it was a respite from being oppressed and depressed by the trails pressing on us. It was therapeutic and lifegiving to see and remember how everyone (or many) had serious trials going on. Not that I wished suffering upon others--yet I was thankful that through Jesus, I could intentionally relate along the journey with them. It was an honor. 

This echoes what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:5, “Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering as you are.” We need each other, because we all have the cloud coverage of spiritual warfare that tries to pull us away from the abundant life.

Restoring of Hope

I loved seeing my husband be encouraged. I cherished knowing how I had been heard and cared for by our group. Going through Restore restored my hope. Romans 5:5 says, “and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” 

I have been able to focus differently--more on God and not blaming. Grant and I had already grown in being able to fight against the Devil through God and others teaching us, and Restore continued to help us fight confidently against the evil one. 

Reading Psalm 27 one night at Restore was an experience I’ll never forget. I got to share with my table how powerfully impactful the words were as the Holy Spirit washed over me during the reading. Specifically Psalm 27:6, “And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.” This became my declaration that night and still is!

I love how Restore emphasizes and teaches constantly how God loves us and invites us into each part of life. God’s story IS my story--to praise him and know his love; knowing that he is always there and good. Even more I treasure my relationship with God. I don’t know a thing about how life is to be, apart from him--I need him desperately! And I can be weak! I have his power! His presence! His Promises! 

I learned that I need to come to God for rest, and to respond to his love by trusting and obeying him every moment of every day. I also learned that I need to not “Quench the Spirit,” I need to forgive even deeper, to continue to wait on the Lord, and to let him renew my strength. 

Going Deeper and Learning to Trust

In God’s kindness, there were many steps that God called me to take after going through Restore. Months later we entered additional care after Restore. We were encouraged by how quickly we were cared for by the Cheong’s. Having more one-on-one care helped me to see and receive how God wanted to lead me next. Even though it was hard or challenging, God helped me to not fear and trust him--to let go of my bitterness toward my husband not listening to me as he ought. Having another person there leading the time also helped me to grow in trust with Grant as he promised to be repentant. God helped me to work through my sin and again let go and depend on his protection while teaching me contentment. 

This was not overnight or without work on my part; these progressions I made happened over a long amount of time with God, and required surrender to God’s way of love.

Although we are both still in progress, we know God has done miraculous work! 

Turning Outward to Serve in Love

A lesson from Restore and Gospel Care that is taught is our need for community and to not be isolated. We are both less isolated and experiencing more of God’s wholeness and flourishing as we do life with others as we were made to. We are now less fixated on our own problems and struggles and God has helped us to move outward toward loving others. As he has restored our souls, he is calling us to live differently, by seeking to help others experience the same restoration through walking with Jesus.

One year later, God has brought redemption full circle in a miraculous way! In his timing and his way, he brought about this opportunity to us to help start palliative care in other countries. We had a divine appointment with a doctor who wanted to help bring palliative care to areas that do not have this kind of care, as well as bring the love of Christ to them.

In one location, the medical staff are people whose lives had been rescued! When they were babies, they were thrown into a dump because they were girls and people did not want the financial burden that comes with having a baby girl in that culture. A native Christian man rescued them and started an orphanage to rescue these girls and bring them up knowing Jesus as Lord. Now many of these girls will get to receive this nursing school palliative care teaching and use this to not only care for people physically as they are dying, but also get to share the gospel with people who do not know Jesus on their deathbed! 

Developing this teaching has been restorative and lifegiving to us both! We are getting to help write the material to not only help the people dying, but also the workers to hopefully ensure they will receive care and health emotionally and spiritually as they have the burden of caring for dying people.

God has shown us how perfectly sovereign he is through all of this! Psalm 37:23 says the Lord directs the steps of the godly and delights in EVERY detail of their lives. We are getting to step into the “good works” that he has prepared for us since the foundation of the world! (Ephesians 2:10) 

Our pain is always purposeful! He comforts us in all our troubles so we can comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Now we are getting to comfort others with the comfort he gave us in our distress--and it was so worth going through all that in order to taste what we are now. Because of this, we can walk confidently knowing our shepherd sees the entire story perfectly though we often just see dimly. We can trust him because for those who love God, he is working all things together for their good (Romans 8:28).

Though we are still growing, and we aren’t without struggle, God has moved us into a state of wholeness and flourishing. He has turned our mourning into dancing, our sadness into laughter, our sorrow into joy, and hallelujah is our song!

Amen! It’s exciting and encouraging to see how powerfully God can work in the hearts of his people--and how that then turns into acts of love that serve others! We’re so grateful for Grant and Alia, and their willingness to share this powerful testimony.