Did you know the first person recorded in the Bible to name God was a pregnant Egyptian slave girl? Think about that – not a king, not a prophet, not a disciple, but a young, expectant mother – cast out of her home — was the first to name God.

Who was this slave girl?

Her name was Hagar, and her plight is found in Genesis 16 and again in Genesis 21. You may remember the story. Abram and Sarai become impatient as they were unable to conceive. God had promised them a child, but when His timing didn’t satisfy them, they decided to take matters into their own hands and sent Hagar to lie with Abram. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarai became jealous and abusive, resulting in the slave girl being left alone in the desert beside a well. However, God intervened. In Hagar’s moment of despair, God noticed her.

Along a desert road, beside a remote, unnamed well, THE angel of the Lord approached a pregnant, abused, runaway Hagar. The young woman had reached a breaking point. Hagar’s life was changed forever by this pregnancy, and her future looked bleak. It must have surprised her that anyone—especially THE angel of the Lord—noticed her.

God not only noticed her, but appeared to her in a theophany, and called her by name. He did not abandon Hagar in the wilderness to perish. He valued her and the child she was carrying enough to appear in person!

Because He intervenes in her life, Hagar enters a relationship with God that changes her identity and her perspective of her circumstance. She is no longer just a slave, but an heir to God’s promise. There, beside the well, she proclaims, “You are the God who sees me… I have now seen the One who sees me” (Gen. 16:13). She names the Lord “the God Who Sees.” Hagar—the only person in Bible history to name God—discovers that God sees and hears hurting and confused women.

Hagar is a collage of the many women pregnancy center staff and volunteers like me and you see each day. Some are slaves to sexual sin, some have suffered trauma and abuse, most have no social or economic clout or stability, and some just need guidance, help, and support as they prepare for the birth of their child. Many need a new perspective on their circumstances and on the sacredness of life itself. The one thing most have in common is their need for a Savior.

An encounter with the Living God through the Gospel can change the life of a pregnancy center client and her child for eternity. Through the Gospel, a client becomes an heir of God’s promise, becomes sealed with the Holy Spirit, and she can change the legacy of her family forever.

Client Story A

“A” is one such client at the pregnancy center where I volunteer every Tuesday. According to a recent article in our monthly newsletter, nearly every time she has walked into the center, it has been with a heavy, undecided heart. An undecided heart is a vulnerable thing. In 2017 she chose life for her baby. In 2019 she did not, leaving deep emotional scars. She came in again recently – pregnant again – telling staff that the father of the baby is refusing to support her if she keeps this child and is demanding an abortion.

“A”, like Hagar, was cast away by the father of her baby. But our heavenly Father led “A” through our doors and met her. One of the client advocates held her hand, listened to her story of the previous abortion, then shared the Gospel with her and told her about the God who sees her and loves her. Together they prayed and “A” trusted Christ as her Savior. A week later the advocate followed up, and “A” announced she decided to choose life and parent her unborn child with the support of her family!

Stories like this don’t happen without an advocate being willing and able to share the Gospel…. which can turn the undecided heart of a client toward choosing life in Christ for themselves as well as life for their unborn babies.

These clients, like Hagar, need an opportunity to know there is a God who sees them amidst the messiness of life—whether they are victims of abuse or pregnant teenagers with nowhere to turn, whether they’ve been disowned by their families, or they’ve given up hope.

No matter their situation, no matter OUR situation, the Gospel is the answer. And let us remember that OUR God is the same God who saw Hagar in her distress. Our God is a God who sees. He sees every detail of our lives and He cares deeply about each one.