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The house where My Girl was filmed back in 1991 starring Macaulay Culkin is being turned into a place of refuge for women facing a crisis pregnancy.
Erin Napier and her husband Ben are a jack of all trades. Together they host HGTV’s Home Town. She is also the co-author of Make Something Good Today and the author of The Lantern House. Recently on her Instagram, she shared about a hobby that turned into something beautiful.
"Here is a good story of God doing a big thing today: We spoke in Orlando today, and a hobby of ours is visiting famous movie houses," says Napier on social media. "This past weekend we happened to watch ‘My Girl,’ and we gave it a google and read that it was filmed near Orlando… So this morning we drove down to Bartow to see it."
"We pulled up to find it under renovation, and I took a photo on the steps where Vada sat, when a woman walked out on the porch and invited us to see the inside. In the movie, the house was a funeral parlor, but, in real life, it’s becoming Hope House: a beautifully renovated home with bedrooms and nurseries for expectant single mothers who find themselves in crisis pregnancies."
The house was built in 1906. The vision is to serve, equip, and empower first-time expectant moms, and once the house is up and running, it'll have six spots for new moms.
"I felt teary hearing their stories of the money raised by donations and work done exclusively by volunteers to give these women in need a refuge. They will be giving these women life skills with courses in infant care, parenting, mental healthcare, job placement, and Bible classes. They wanted the house to be beautiful so these new mothers see how worthy they are of beauty, and that they can expect this for their lives, no matter how desperate they may feel now."
The woman who started Hope House in Florida is Tara Johnson. Roughly 12 years ago she found herself facing a crisis pregnancy.
"A few weeks ago I saved a prayer to my Lock Screen that read ‘Show me glimpses of Your divine nature and power by showing off through my life,'" says Johnson on Instagram. "He is doing just that. Today, I had the honor of showing [Erin and Ben Napier] our ‘hometown’ renovation and tell them all about [Hope House] and, about an hour ago, she shared about us to her 1.5 million followers."
When Johnson first found out about her pregnancy, she thought perhaps she had ruined her life. Now she can see that God has used it all for his good as she opens the doors to other scared women choosing life for their babies.
"God can redeem it all, take even the most shameful parts of your life make them your story, and use it all for his glory. Every time. Always."