Hosea 14:4 “I will heal their backsliding, Iwill love them freely, for My anger....

Hosea 14:4 “I will heal their backsliding, I

will love them freely, for My anger is turned

away from him.”

I have always heard this word “backsliding” in my

church and how God is married to the backslider. As I am

personally reading Hosea, I am overwhelmed at just how

much God loves us. Yes, He gets angry at our sins, but He is married to us, and

He will honor His covenant with us, even when we don’t. He constantly is looking

for us to turn back to Him. In the very beginning God tells Hosea to go and take a

wife from the whoredoms (representing us sinners). Then when she leaves for the

streets, God tells Hosea to go and buy her back! That is a real picture of just how

much God loves us and honors His covenant to his believers. Hosea 14:4, goes

even further that God will forgive us completely and He will love us freely, no

anger or resentment! I can’t help but think of the drug and alcohol addicts that we are serving at the Christian

Caring Center When we go on Street Outreach every Wednesday and Friday, we see

many men and women struggling They are in various stages of addiction, new to the

street and some have been there for years We go out every week, praying, feeding and

looking for them to look to God for deliverance Let me tell you of a few that turned their

hearts back to God AC was on the streets for 7 years addicted to heroin Doing odd jobs

for money, local Browns Mills residents will know this man who washed your windows at

the Shell Station After AC had a few overdoses, he came to us desperate He was in and

out of Princeton House detox God is a restorer! AC now has an apartment in Marlton and

a job landscaping PTL! HW and RO both addicted and living on the street for years, came

to us within weeks of each other wanting deliverance We were able to take them both to

“Straight to Treatment” at Pemberton Police station and they both were placed at Maryville

detox then rehab Both men are currently living with a relative or in a sober living home

However, there are still many out there not ready to do the hard work of deliverance TW

overdosed 9 times in 1 year, came to our men’s shelter for 4 months, but left and went

back to his addiction and last month TW was placed in Maryville detox, but left after 3

days They are many like TW out in the street, but after reading Hosea again, we need to

constantly be looking for them and extending the Gospel, hope, love and action to them

God is able to deliver, forgive and restore!! Thank you for believing God’s Word and

empowering us to be able to keep bringing the gospel to all of His people We could never

do it without you!

Madelyn C. Sutton,

Executive

Director