Giggles, junk food, love songs, make-up, fingernail polish, curling wand, shameless silly selfies, and life stories.
When you walked upstairs last night into the girls’ hangout room at the Hope Center in Marikaj, Albania this was what would have captured your attention. It was GIRLS’ NIGHT!!
The Hope Center is a beautiful home, where seven (4 girls, 3 guys) teen orphans live. Our team is blessed to lodge here and do life with these teens for two weeks. We have only been here a few days, but over these days love continues to spill out for these teens, as if they were like our own little brothers and sisters. Each one has a unique story, a spicy personality, and a heart that has scars.
When we first told the girls we were going to have a girls’ night, they had no idea what we were talking about. They had never had a night where all the girls hangout and do girl things. How sad?! If you know me, you know how much I love nights where you get together with other females and embrace the things that make us different than males.
So first thing on the list: junk food. Every girls’ night NEEDS an assortment of food that makes you close to nauseated by the end of the night, because you have stuffed your face with too much sugar and grease. Let me tell you, shopping in an Albanian grocery store for this kind of stuff is just as much fun (if not more fun) as shopping for it in the states. Our grocery cart was full of fun treats.
Next thing on the list? Fingernail polish, make-up, and curling wand. Good thing I love being a girl, because yes, I brought this stuff along with me in my pack. WE WERE READY! I turned on the playlist full of love songs from every decade my friend had made me for a previous girls’ night and we got busy pampering.
The environment was set and inviting. Girls were being cater to and soaking every bit of it up. But my favorite part? The conversations that took place in between the hair curling and the nail painting.
It does not matter what country you are in, what language you speak, or what background you have. God designed women to long for romance, play this irreparable role in a grand adventure, and to have beauty unveil. First and foremost, God fulfills each of those deep desires.
Romance. This topic was fun. As soon as we mentioned boys, eyes sparkled and grins appeared on faces. Yes, romance will make any girl blush. But as soon as we became vulnerable, and the girls on my team (Kelly Anne and Shirletha) and me started sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly about romantic relationship. When we shared about guys that had hurt us emotionally, the teens started becoming transparent. They were confused that the American missionaries did not have it all together and that our lives were not some magical story. They related to being cheated on, not feeling good enough, and disappointed when the guy turned out not to be the man we had painted up in our minds.
Adventures. Universities are a HUGE deal here in Albania. To get in one must have amazing grades and be able to pass an intense test. They all have different dreams of what they want to become. They have to work hard while they are in school, so they can have a chance to enter one of the many universities. Kelly Anne, Shirletha, and I understood their passions. We also understood how God changes your plans to line up with His. When you walk by faith you get the grandest adventure of your life. This was something special we were able to share with them from our own stories.
Beauty. Oh, how they long to be like celebrities they see on television. They did not see their worth and true beauty. It was a blast explaining to them that they are more! Of course it was fun putting on make-up and curling hair, but knowing the importance that all those things do not consume who you are. Knowing that your identity is in Christ alone, and having true confidence that stems from that.
It amazes me how our Creator designed us. How it does not matter our age, our country, or our language, but females all over the world understand each other. Ultimately, God is the only one that can satisfy our heart for romance. His love quenches the thirstiest of hearts. Adventure comes straight from the heart of God. He doesn’t’ want to be an option—He wants to be the main adventure. Beauty is something worth pursuing, worth fighting for, beauty is the core to who we truly are—in Christ. Beauty is more than seen, it is felt and affects those around us.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. “
Psalm 139: 13-14
