Her name is Diana (pronounced Deanna). She is 23 with a baby boy named Hanelle; he
is a doll! She watched us walk by her house everyday for a few weeks before we
even met her or began getting to know her. She is a sweet and gentle young
woman who is struggling to live in a family of unbelievers. She misses her
husband who led her to Jesus. He is still her husband, but he has walked away
from the Lord and is living for the things of the world now. She misses his
companionship in the Faith and in life. She is seeking Truth and AnSweRs. She asks
deep questions that challenge us to answer through a translator. And asks
questions that only the Lord can answer by using us to speak to her. She LoVeS
Jesus and wants to live her life for Him. She gets discouraged in her faith
without friends and family to talk with, and gets harshly judged for being a
believer. She has had thoughts of taking her life, but realizes this is not her
life to take and fears the Lord. She is our sister, we love her! She is so
beautiful, even though she may say she is not. She cares about others and is
deeply concerned about their salvation. She is going to miss us, we are going
to miss her even more!!
This
is about a young woman in Guatcupita whom my teammate Rachel and I built a
really great friendship with last month. Rachel started out talking to her and reading the
Bible with her a few weeks ago and I would “babysit” her baby boy while they
talked. They would mostly read the Bible back and forth and didn’t have a
translator so they couldn’t do a lot of communicating at first but were
developing a great bond. Rachel really showed Diana Christ’s love and would sit
and just diligently dig through the Word with her. One day I felt God calling me to sit
down and pass the baby on to someone else so He could use both Rachel and I to
speak truth into her life. This was the day that we got to share more about
ourselves with Diana, and in return she shared her stories and her struggles
with us. There were tears all over her face as well as brokenness and searching there too. She was believing a lot of lies from the devil– and the Lord used
us to call those lies out for what they were; simply LIES. We spoke the love of
the Father over her and shared in her tears. She really touched my heart and so
did the love and compassion she has for her family and her friends who don’t
know the Lord. It showed me the heart and pain we should all have for the lost.
She told us of her thoughts, that it was too hard and painful to live this life
on earth and God spoke these TRUTHS over her through Rachel and I: “She is here
for a reason, she is a LIGHT for her family, she is a BELOVED daughter of the
King, she is our FRIEND, she is a beautiful MOTHER of a beautiful baby, she is
a WIFE, she is FILLED with Holy Spirit, she is filled with GIFTS from the Lord,
she REFLECTS the Father, she is DESIRED, she has so much to OFFER, she is LOVED
and ACCEPTED no matter what has happened in the past (and so much more); and to take her life and take all of that away from this earth before God calls her home
would be a tragedy and a huge loss for the people she will impact. And most of all, heartbreaking to the Father that created her and Loves her dearly.
My
team was able to perform the “Everything” skit on our last night in Guatcupita
before we left. This skit addresses struggles such as money, suicide, self
worth, relationships, abusing alcohol and believing lies from the devil. All problems that run rampant in Guatcupita. This skit just shows a great picture of how God fights those things off of us and fights
for us all the time because of His great love. It was great to watch the faces
of the young girls in the small crowd that came to watch this and see
understanding wash over them. We are not really sure how this skit impacted
them, but with everything we have heard and seen these young women struggle
with, Im pretty certain God pierced their hearts and hopefully eased some pain
and hurt in there. I remember the look of understanding as I watched Diana’s
face during the skit, she looked like she had been freed over the few weeks of
hearing and feeling the love of God wash over her. This is my prayer for Diana
and so many other young women, that she would be free from guilt and receive
God’s grace. That she would embrace the Lord as her Savior, Father, comforter,
peace-giver, and life changer. And that she would see the great things that God
is doing in her life and in the life of her family and friends around her,
through her testimony and joy. I am so thankful for this friendship that was
formed and for all the ways that God touched Diana’s life last month. It brings
a smile to my face just thinking of this dear friend of ours and I will never
forget her desire for the love and knowledge of the Lord. And desire to see her friends and family know Him. It is something that
really impacted me and made me question things in my own heart and life these
past few weeks. 
Praise the Lord for the HEALING of hearts and RENEWING of minds!!
