There are so many stories about finding your way home.

Some involve a physical place. Others are about finding a people who will walk beside you when you aren't sure where you are going. And some are about something deeper still, the moment you realize you have found the One you were looking for all along.

That was the heart of this year's New Path Pregnancy Resource Centers Gala on Saturday, Sept. 19, where a room filled with people gathered around a shared mission: walking with women and men through pregnancy decisions and difficult seasons with the love of Christ and the truth of God's Word.

This year's “Narnia” theme was more than a whimsical backdrop. It provided a fitting picture for an organization that meets people in places of uncertainty and helps them find their way toward hope.

Throughout the evening, three speakers offered three very different perspectives on what New Path means, and each story pointed back to the same truth: lives are being changed.

For Angie Myers, New Path became part of her journey to Jesus.

Angie shared how she came to know Christ through the ministry of New Path and reflected on the difference between the father she had known on earth and the heavenly Father she discovered through Christ.

“My heavenly Father built, led, provided and conquered for me, unlike my earthly father,” she said.

Her story did not end with her own relationship with Christ. After she and her husband welcomed their son, their family eventually began a journey into foster care. It was another chapter of learning what it means to trust a God who leads, provides and makes a way, even when the way isn't always easy.

Then came the perspective of someone who has spent years on the other side of the table.

Tessy Olson is a client advocate who has volunteered with New Path for more than five years. Although she lives in Marysville, she chose to volunteer in Bellefontaine because of the connection she has with young people through her daughter.

Teens often spend time in her home, and she understands how difficult it can be for someone to share a pregnancy crisis with a person they already know.

Her time at New Path has also coincided with some of the most difficult seasons of her own life. Yet she described those years not simply as something she gave, but as something God used to minister to her as well.

“God met me here and he filled my own cup through these women,” Olson said.

Over the years, she has watched women choose life. She has seen babies born, relationships restored and women experience something that can be profoundly powerful in a crisis: being seen and heard.

And she reminded the donors in the room that they are part of those stories. Their generosity makes it possible for the advocates to sit across from a frightened woman. It makes the counseling, resources, encouragement and prayer possible. It allows New Path to continue showing up, again and again, for people who may not know where else to turn.

But perhaps the most unexpected reminder of the evening came from Michael Cogossi. New Path is often thought of primarily as a ministry to women, but men are part of pregnancy decisions too. Michael's story offered a powerful reminder that the father sitting somewhere outside the examination room may be carrying his own fear, regret and uncertainty.

Michael grew up in a stable, Christ-centered home. He knew the faith. He knew what he had been taught. But college brought a season when, as he described it, he began chasing the world rather than Jesus.

He entered a relationship with a young woman, and eventually the relationship ended. After the breakup, she discovered she was pregnant. When she told Michael, his first response was one he still regrets.

“It wasn't Christ-like,” he said.

Then came the terrifying prospect of telling his parents. But when Michael finally did, they responded with something he desperately needed: love and grace. They reminded him that every child is a blessing.

Michael and his former girlfriend began navigating what their new reality would look like. But she had moved on, and Michael worried that when the baby was born, he might not even be invited into the birthing room.

It was in the middle of that uncertainty that Michael found New Path. What happened next was not a lecture. It was not condemnation. It was a group of people who met him where he was and began walking with him toward the man God was calling him to become.

For seven months, New Path staff prayed for Michael. They encouraged him and taught him how to lament to God. They listened to him and helped him prepare for something he had never done before: becoming a father.

This made way for a moment that brought laughter through the tears, they even helped him practice holding a newborn...with a baby doll.

As Michael told his story, the room grew increasingly quiet. Because underneath the details was something bigger than a pregnancy story. It was a story about grace, a story about a young man who had made choices he regretted and feared he had messed everything up, and a ministry that didn't see him as a problem to be solved. They saw him as a person who needed Jesus.

The staff walked with him and they prayed for him. They reminded him of who he was and, more importantly, whose he was. By the time Michael finished, there wasn't much dry-eyed in the room.

His story was a reminder that pregnancy ministry is not simply about one moment, one decision or one mother. It is about families. It is about fathers. It is about babies. It is about relationships. And at the center of it all is the opportunity to show people the love of a God who meets them exactly where they are.

There was wonderful food at the gala. There was laughter and good conversation. There was a beautiful Narnia-inspired setting. But it was the stories were what people will carry home.

C.S. Lewis understood something about home. In The Last Battle, Lucy finally recognizes where she is and says:

“I have come home at last! This is my real country! This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now.”

For some people who walk through the doors of New Path, home may begin with a safe place to talk. For others, it may begin with a volunteer who listens without judgment. For a young father like Michael, it may begin with someone willing to sit beside him in the middle of his fear and show him what Jesus looks like.

That is the work of New Path: meeting people where they are, walking with them through difficult decisions and difficult circumstances, and pointing them toward the hope found in Christ.

Sometimes finding your way home begins with someone simply being willing to walk the road with you. ■