What happens when we stop assuming our hearts are perfectly aligned with God’s and let Him reshape our compassion? Amanda Lorraine’s story is a powerful picture of that kind of formation. Watch the video now!
A Lived Example of Following God’s Heart
Amanda Lorraine’s story was shared during Sunday’s teaching as a lived example of what it can look like when God patiently forms a person’s heart and then sends them into the world for the sake of others.
In the sermon, we were invited to wrestle with the reality that our hearts are not always naturally aligned with God’s heart. We often assume that what we feel, prefer, or avoid reflects what God feels, but Scripture consistently calls us to slow down, listen, and allow God to reshape our loves, our compassion, and our direction. Following God’s heart often leads us to people and places we would not choose on our own.
Amanda’s journey reflects that kind of formation. As she shares in the video, her story did not begin with a clear plan or a sense of qualification, but with a growing awareness of suffering that God would not allow her to ignore. Over time, God shaped her heart to see women who had been pushed to the margins, not as problems to solve, but as people to love, worthy of dignity, patience, and community.
Through that ongoing work of formation, Amanda was led to help create Grace Collective, a sanctuary workplace that walks alongside women survivors through long-term healing, discipleship, and job training. Her story is not shared as a prescription for what everyone should do, but as one picture of what can happen when someone allows God to disrupt their assumptions, stretch their compassion, and lead them beyond their comfort.
As the sermon reminded us, God is always moving toward people, especially those who are vulnerable, unseen, or without a voice. Amanda’s story offers a glimpse of what it looks like when a life is shaped by that truth and lived in response to it.
Her story invites all of us to ask the same questions raised throughout the message:
Where might God be inviting us to pause, listen, and realign our hearts with His?
Who or what might He be calling us to see differently?
And how might He want to send us, in our own unique ways, to live for the sake of the world?
