How can you feel so connected to someone, have so much love for them when you hardly know them- If you’ve only seen them twice and don’t even remember their name? It happens so easily and yet every time it catches me by surprise. Maybe it surprises me the most when I haven’t given my all or felt like I haven’t done much to enable it to happen. God is so good to me. He does some amazing things and I think this is one of them.
One of our ministries this month was Pan y Chocolate- Bread and (hot) chocolate although it was usually soup lol. Most of the time we went to the streets and homeless shelters, but we went to the hospital once and jail last week and this week.
It felt almost wrong being at jail. Like we were at the zoo staring at animals behind the cages. And I’m sure there are people in this world who would consider them animals- who knows what they’ve done to be thrown there. But they aren’t animals. They are people. People with feelings, the need for love and filled with so much potential. I think God is showinng me how we are all equal in God’s eyes because when I look at these people I no longer see what they’ve done or see the circumstances they’re in or what they’re doing with their life but how their lives could be transformed. When I look at them rather than placing judgement I see who they could be. I see how loved they are by the King, I see the way He could take their broken lives and give them a testimony that will impact so many others. Maybe that’s why it felt wrong. There were bars between us. Bars that called out in the darkness, unworthy, hopeless, scum, undeserving, prisoner to sin-shame-and whatever life held them captive. Those bars put us on the “better than them side.” I should have been behind those bars too. We all should have. There should be bars between us and Jesus that screamed out worthless, hopeless, sinners. But there aren’t. We’ve been set free. God wants them to be set free too.
Some of the girls in there were my age and they had children at home that were 6 years old and 2 years old. They are ordinary people like us who have made some bad choices. Every woman in that jail cell is beautiful, worthy, loved-forgiven. As we talked with them and shared verses with them the bars disappeared, suddenly there was nothing seperating us. Suddenly the only thing that was important was that these women knew Jesus. Knew His love and that He doesn’t call them sinner but beloved. Leaving was hard. Harder than I thought. I love these women that I don’t even know and I will probably never see them again. Did they understand what we tried to tell them? Did we say enough? Did we take every opportunity we had?
So many times I have to be reminded that it’s not in my hands but God’s.
