I remember holding the invitation in my hand, praying about who to invite that year. It should have been a simple task. But this time, it wasn’t simple at all. It felt uncomfortable, unsettling, and honestly – impossible.
Everyone on the leadership team was given an opportunity to invite someone they knew to ALPHA. For several days, the Holy Spirit kept bringing my daughter to mind. Not gently, not subtly – heavily. Her name sat on my heart like a weight I couldn’t shake. Every time the thought entered my mind, my response remained the same. “No way! That’s crazy. She’ll never come. She never commits to anything. And she won’t walk into a church alone.” But the tug didn’t stop. Every excuse I raised, God answered with a quiet, steady whisper:
I will have the last word.
I ended up inviting her, mostly to appease my conscience — and honestly, to prove to myself that I was right all along. I thought, “Well, at least I did my part.”
The first night of ALPHA arrived. As the other leaders and I finished up our team huddle prayer, I heard a familiar voice in the hallway. Then came her laugh
— that unmistakable laugh I hadn’t heard in so long. My heart stopped. Tears rose instantly. My daughter was here. The very thing I believed was impossible… God made possible.
Not only did she come, but she felt safe enough to talk, open up, and be present. Week after week, I watched God move gently in her life. She was honest, transparent, and vulnerable. She asked questions about the pain that shaped her, questions about the wounds that nearly destroyed her, and questions about God that she had been carrying alone for years.
And that’s exactly what ALPHA is meant to be – a safe, non-judgmental place where anyone and everyone is welcome to bring their thoughts, beliefs, and questions about life and God. Each week, we have dinner together and explore a new topic about the Christian faith.
By age 24, my daughter had endured more than most people could imagine: emotional trauma, abandonment, losing her biological mother, moving through three different homes, being adopted twice, enduring separation from her siblings, and having her identity shattered more times than I could count. Her gentle spirit, her heart, her soul — every part of her bore the scars of her past. Where was God in all of that? Why didn’t He stop the pain? Why didn’t He protect her? Therapists couldn’t reach her. Rehabs couldn’t heal her. Church services, altar calls, and prayers never seemed to reach the deepest parts of her soul.
But what seemed impossible, God was quietly working out.
He used a woman in my daughter’s ALPHA small group. This woman was one that many might overlook, battling schizophrenia and multiple personality disorders. Sometimes, she would often have conversations with people who weren’t there. She seemed helpless and hopeless, even to herself. Yet, God used her – this unlikely, unexpected vessel – to reach into the deepest, darkest places of my daughter’s heart. She shined the light of Jesus into a place no therapist, pastor, or parent could ever reach.
In the final weeks of ALPHA, my daughter came to her mother and I with tears in her eyes. She told us she had repented and placed her faith and trust in Jesus. She told us how she laid down her pain – all of it – and chose to trust Him. We watched as her joy returned. Her smile — the one that could light up a room — came back. God had traded her sorrows for something entirely new.
God had the last word.
A month later, my daughter asked once again to speak with my wife and me. She stood in our living room, tears streaming down her face, and asked for complete forgiveness and reconciliation. God restored our relationship and healed our hearts. All this time, we had truly believed our relationship with our daughter would never be whole again. We were brokenhearted, convinced that this was the final chapter. But Jesus touched my daughter’s heart. He regenerated what was wounded and scared and gave her a new heart — a heart that can love, be loved, and receive love. His Love.
After years of fasting, praying, and surrendering… God had the last word.
So, now I ask you — Who has God placed on your heart? Who is your One? Where will you allow God to have the last word?
Learn more about the ALPHA program at westshorefree.org/alpha.
