When asked how he produced such marvelous sculptures, the brilliant Italian artist Michelangelo responded that he just chipped away all the stone that didn’t belong and released the piece within. He had the ability to look at a block of marble and see the beauty that it contained.

There are so many masterpieces in the world that go unnoticed, but God gives us the gift of being able to see the inner beauty of a person. This is a story of one of His masterpieces.

We will call her Beautiful. Her story is nothing short of a complete miracle. So let me start at the time we first met our friend, Beautiful. We were serving a hot, delicious meal at our local homeless shelter when someone said, “Theresa, someone is looking for you to pray for them!” I thought, “What? Someone is making a public announcement to be prayed for? I can see the enemy cringe at such a suggestion spoken out loud in this place of hopelessness!”

“Hallelujah!”

She arrived at the homeless shelter “much afraid”. Not understanding the cruel environment she was being thrust into, she asked one of the caseworkers if there was anyone who would pray with her. The one thing Beautiful had to hang onto was her hope in Jesus. She started to share her story as we were serving dinner, and she began to weep. While Robert Beauregard and Giacamo Sayahi continued serving, Angela Taddeo and I took her aside to pray with her. While she “hugged us with her tears” and continued with her story, we prayed with her and comforted her with the Love of God. During the coming weeks, as we began to spend time with her, it was obvious that Beautiful was having a hard time with the emotional shock she was enduring at the shelter. She had never experienced all the freedoms and privileges we are blessed with. The freedoms of going outside, watching TV or talking on the phone, etc. were not allowed by the strict rules her adoptive parents imposed on her since her adoption ten years earlier.

She had no identity—in herself or in society. But that was about to change thanks to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior! At first, the task in front of us seemed overwhelming as we were not equipped to help someone find an identity—or so we thought!

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” ~
Psalm 139:13,14

Part 2
It has been 6 months now since we first met Beautiful, and she is well on her way to living an independent life. That doesn’t mean it has been easy, but because of her tenacity to learn and to succeed, she pushes through as she finds her identity.

First, we moved Beautiful to a dry shelter—one that was safer and had more resources. She was assigned a wonderful caseworker that has made a huge difference. Then we obtained all the necessary documentation, such as a passport, social security card and birth certificate. We also realized her education was minimal, but her hunger to learn was endless! So she was enrolled in school where she is excelling. We also learned that at the age of 23, Beautiful had never worked a job. So Christian Life Church hired her temporarily—the very same church that became her lighthouse when she was lost and confused. She has gotten new glasses to help her see better, and has had an ear operation to help her to hear. Among so many more changes that Beautiful has had to make and grow through, I find most precious is how she sees herself. She came into our lives as a frail, scared, beaten down little orphan girl who knew nothing about who she was, or where she belonged. But now she is growing into a beautiful young woman who is not just finding her identity, but her identity in Christ as she reads and hears the TRUTH of God!

“He has drawn her by grace and put the banner of love over her, has given her the garment of salvation and placed over her the robe of righteousness”