Lost but now I’m found, Blind but now I see: Patti Moody
Lost but now I’m found,
Blind but now I see
Patti Moody
At my final graduation from the Discipleship and Recovery Program at the Downtown Rescue Mission, I was asked to stay on at the Mission as the Women’s Ministry Assistant. What an honor to live and work with women of all ages going through what I went through, homeless and broken without our precious Lord. I remain in awe of His miraculous transformation and restoration, the immenseness of His love for us is staggering, His mercies immeasurable. I walk in His grace. Glory be to God! Patti Moody
Holding a sign on an off ramp in Atlanta was not exactly what I thought I’d be doing at 50 years of age. I didn’t think either that I’d be brutally raped, beaten, robbed and living in constant fear. I didn’t think either that I was a serious alcoholic. I denied being in denial and thought I knew the Lord because I grew up in church and attended parochial school for 12 years. Oh, how I was wrong.
Holding a sign on an off ramp in Atlanta was not exactly what I thought I’d be doing at 50 years of age. I didn’t think either that I’d be brutally raped, beaten, robbed and living in constant fear. I didn’t think either that I was a serious alcoholic. I denied being in denial and thought I knew the Lord because I grew up in church and attended parochial school for 12 years. Oh, how I was wrong.
One day a precious young lady opened her car window and asked if she could buy me a sandwich. Cold, dirty, hungry and broken, I accepted. And so began the most glorious, awe-inspiring, divine intervention I ever thought possible.
She told me of the Holy Spirit talking to her and guiding her to me. Her obedience and profound trust in our Lord is still a constant source of amazement to me. She introduced me to her mom, now, years later, my best friend. One of the strongest, most anointed women I had ever known.
I had been living under a bridge and there beside the railroad tracks in Atlanta. They had become so familiar to me, it was my comfort zone. Darkness was not just for nighttime. It was with me all the time. I was frightened, distrusting and trapped in a dark hole. I saw no hope. I saw nothing.
I was diagnosed legally blind and had lost my front teeth when I was attacked. I was too lost in the darkness to turn to my family, afraid.
The young woman (Mary Brantley and her mom, Cathy) finally convinced me to move to Huntsville to the Downtown Rescue Mission to their Recovery and Discipleship Program. And here I remain walking the light of our precious Lord.
Inside of one month of coming to know the Lord, Cathy and her close friends began networking for doctors and praying for my healing in all ways. I think they gave praying without ceasing new meaning. They found an eye doctor and an eye surgeon who wanted to do something for the Lord. They operated on my eyes for nothing in return. I could see.
They found a dentist who also loved our Lord and he replaced all of my teeth. I could smile again.
God sent Jesus to proclaim freedom to the captive and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed. My eyes began to see with His eyes. His heart loved mine and made me smile. Through a stranger’s touch, my life was forever touched.
My son and family were brought back into my life and our Lord taught all of us the true meaning of love and forgiveness.
I know now, my Sovereign Father, was implementing this plan all along. My pride and blindness led me to the other side of the tracks and a fresh hell everyday to the miraculous, profoundly impractical day when His mighty hand reached down into the slimy sin pool I was wallowing in and said, “it is enough.”
The day he sent those women to me, the day that began life in my life, soul in my soul and the only true meaning of love – His. The day I began my life with Jesus Christ. As sure as I walked out of those woods a broken and lost soul, He redefined it all. As good as His word. He changed it all to good. Rescued and redeemed all the wretchedness from His daughter.
It is called hope. A hope He offers to each of us no matter who or what we are. His unconditional, unfathomable love and never-ending mercy.
I can write this only by His grace. That precious, immeasurable love of our Lord, that motivates our steps as we turn to the path less traveled by and rejuvenates our hearts with the unexplainable peace and redefines our joy! It is Him!
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