“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me…” —Matthew 25:35
Sometimes a single question changes everything.
In 2016, Jean Marie Davis walked into a pregnancy center carrying more than an unplanned pregnancy. She was homeless. Addicted. Trafficked for most of her life. Exhausted. When a staff member shared John 3:16 with her, she responded and accepted Christ. But even in that sacred moment of surrender, the weight of reality pressed in.
She looked at the staff and asked a raw, honest question:
“Now what? I’m homeless and pregnant. How are you going to help me?”
It was not a cynical question. It was a survival question.
Jean Marie later shared her testimony at the 51st Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., in January 2024. The theme that year focused on caring for both mother and child—not just during pregnancy, but in the years that follow. Her story put flesh and bone on that calling.
Before walking into that pregnancy center, Jean Marie described herself as hopeless.
“I wanted to die,” she said. “I was hooked on crystal meth. I was trafficked from the age of two to the age of 29. I wanted my baby dead. I had no life.”
It is hard to imagine deeper despair. And yet that is precisely where Christ stepped in.
Matthew 25 reminds us that caring for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, and the vulnerable is not peripheral to the gospel. It is evidence of it. When believers respond to tangible need with tangible love, they reflect the heart of Christ Himself.
For Jean Marie, that reflection came through a woman named Phyllis Phelps, a client services manager at a New Hampshire pregnancy center. Phyllis did more than offer words of encouragement. She offered presence. Direction. A pathway forward.
Jean Marie says it plainly: “Phyllis Phelps saved my life.”
But something else happened because of Jean Marie’s question.
When she asked, “How are you going to help me?” it exposed a gap between immediate crisis support and long-term stability. Phyllis did not ignore that tension. She acted on it.
Out of that moment was born House of Hope in New Hampshire—a home for women who needed more than an appointment. They needed shelter. Structure. Discipleship. Community. A new beginning.
Jean Marie entered a program. She found stability. She gave birth to her son. Over time, she moved from being served to serving others. She eventually worked at House of Hope and, in 2022, was named executive director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in Brattleboro, Vermont.
That is the ripple effect of faithful obedience.
- One woman asks a desperate question.
- One staff member refuses to look away.
- One home opens.
- And generations are changed.
Today Jean Marie says,
“We do life with women who are struggling. We are here to help. We’re here for the babies. We’re here to save souls and save lives.”
Her words capture something essential. The mission is not transactional. It is relational. It is not simply about a decision in a moment. It is about walking with someone into a new future.
There are thousands of women across our nation who could ask the same question Jean Marie asked:
“How are you going to help me?”
The answer cannot stop at information. It must include an invitation. Support. Discipleship. Practical care. Spiritual transformation.
This is what it looks like to live out Matthew 25 in our generation.
Jean Marie’s story reminds us that the gospel does not merely rescue souls; it restores lives. Christ pulls people from pits of addiction, abuse, and abandonment and places their feet on solid ground. He does it through His Church. Through pregnancy centers. Through maternity homes. Through faithful believers who refuse to separate truth from compassion.
Pray that the Lord of the harvest would continue to send laborers into these fields. Pray for the women walking into pregnancy centers today with fear in their eyes and questions on their lips. Pray for the staff and volunteers who answer those questions with courage and grace.
And remember: sometimes the question that feels like pressure is actually an invitation from God to build something new.
Lord, You are the Savior who pulls us from the pit of despair and sets our feet upon the Rock. Raise up more Houses of Hope. Transform more impossible stories. And help us respond when someone asks, “Now what?”
Find encouragement like this post, along with many more days like it, when you download Care Net’s 365 Days of Pro Abundant Life devotional. This devotional is a daily invitation to grow in your faith, understand the sanctity of life from conception, and be inspired by Christ’s promises.