Church and A Day With the Women

11/11/12

We started out the day with an African church service, which included a wedding.  What a treat for each of us!  I have a video I will try to share later.

While in this African church, I couldn’t help but look around and see the humility and total dependence on God in this place.  The simplicity of their lives and total reliance on the Lord is something I have never seen or felt myself in the states.  I don’t even think I can explain in words the emotion in the moments of watching the people worship… uninhibited and humble.  God is in His rightful place, and His hand appears to be all over!

Later that afternoon, we begun pouring into the women who used to work in prostitution.  When we first saw the women, I was reminded of the same look the children gave us.  Very serious, yet very hopeful and somewhat expectant.  The moment you looked into their deep dark eyes and offered a smile, you received in return the most joyful of smiles.  Beautiful, honest smiles!

Throughout our time together we talked about how we are free in Christ.    Like the chrysalis stage of a butterfly, sometimes we feel trapped.  We might be feeling shame or guilt, hurt, loss, or loneliness.  Maybe we are stuck at a place of not being able to forgive someone who has wronged us.  Whatever the situation, God doesn’t want us stuck here.  He wants us to emerge like a butterfly, becoming who He wants us to be, who He has created us to be… to fulfill the purpose He has planned for us.

We reminded the women they are royalty like Queen Esther.  They are daughters of the most high king.  So it was only fitting they should make crowns.  With some Burger King crowns, glue sticks, glitter, glitter glue pens, and gems, the women created their crowns.  Watching these women in excitement as they learned how to use glue sticks and squeeze the glitter pens was humbling.  I wonder if I would have shared the same excitement creating a Burger King crown with a couple of simple supplies.  When they finished, they wore their crowns like daughters of the king!

On this day we also left them with a gift.  My dear mother in law, Joyce, sewed 130 purple scarves and prayed for each of the women we would minister to.  What a glorious gift for these women to remind them of the royal daughters they are!  They wore them around their necks and wrapped them in various ways on their heads.  Here are some pictures of the beautiful women of Hosanna!