Hey y’all! Hope all is well! Yes, I am STILL writing stories from Nepal from before we got to the villages (sorry not sorry!)
I wanted to talk about this AMAZING night we had with all of the WOMEN of my squad, I am calling it, “A Night of Healing ~ Stand Up For Your Sister,” night! Others have called it, “Freedom Night,” so you should start to figure out what I’m going to talk about haha!!
First of all, I need to give a shout-out to the WONDERFUL leaders that S Squad has been blessed with. We LEGIT have THE BEST Squad Mentor at AIM, her name is Beka and she is just fabulous. Then we have 3 of the coolest Squad Leaders ever; Amanda, Lo, and Tammy – LOVE YOU LADIES! And LAST but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST, our NEWEST edition to S Squad, our wonderful Squad Content Manager, dani! These women are seriously AMAZING and I have LOVED learning from each and every single one of them!
Okay, no back to business! Night Of Healing, wow, what can I even say. Beka started the night out by saying how this was going to be a night of vulnerability, free of judgment, and just a night to be together. We were not trying to “fix” each other, just share about our struggles, but we did it through an activity! The activity was called, “Stand Up For Your Sister!” We were given a questionnaire and told to leave it as anonymous. We were then told to answer the questions by circling “yes” or “no.”
These questions were about a bunch of different topics; for example, eating habits (unhealthy ones, have you ever done ______ to lose weight), have you ever had unhealthy emotions (anxiety, depressed, suicidal, etc), have you had issues with sexual things, have you ever felt that you weren’t worthy to receive God’s love, etc. Our papers were then collected, mixed up, and we then received a filled out questionnaire. Beka then went through the whole list and if that question had a “yes” circled, then you were to stand. You were literally STANDING UP for your sister with whatever struggles they were going through/had gone through.
It was very freeing; I felt it was a very safe place to share. It was encouraging, yet sad, to see that SO MANY OF US STRUGGLE WITH THE SAME ISSUES YET WE NEVER TALK ABOUT THEM. I feel like AS CHRISTIANS, we DEFINITELY need to discuss these issues, since we ALL go through them! WE ARE NOT ALONE in our struggles, God knows that, that’s why He calls us into community, to help each other in our journeys! I don’t know if the church in America feels it is “taboo” or something to not address some of these issues, but they need to be talked about. Things were coming out on our squad that THEY HAD NEVER TOLD ANYONE ABOUT; we’re all in our 20’s! That is sad. If WE ALL are struggling with some of these things, that means that OTHERS are struggling as well and maybe HAVE NOT had the chance to talk about it with others.
Jesus is in the HEALING business, we ALL need HEALING y’all! I felt God preparing me for that night back during debrief in Thamel! I am going to type up the prayer that God revealed to me during worship one night at debrief:
2/11/2017 Saturday Night Worship at Debrief
“Father God, You are SO good! My heart is just SO full for my Squad right now! I want to comfort them with whatever they need comfort with; I want to PRAY for them Lord, I want to see You heal them Jesus! My heart is heavy, but I am joyful because I KNOW God is moving amongst our squad. He is ALIVE and breathing through us, leading us step by step wherever we need to go. We are nothing without YOU! Holy Spirit, we only do things THROUGH YOU! Help us die to ourselves so we can be more like Jesus. Guide our feet Lord; heal the sick, feed the hungry; use us as VESSELS. A vessel is not living; it serves no purpose except to hold something. We are only to HOLD love and Your Spirit. We are NOTHING without You! Fill us Lord, show us Your purpose!“
I read some of that to the group because I had a realization that my women’s ministry isn’t limited just to the Nepali women, but to the BEAUTIFUL women of my squad! I said I was there for them to talk, or just sit and listen to them, and that I was PRAYING for ALL of them! It was SUCH an amazing night!
I am learning so much, especially about women’s ministry and AIM’s women’s ministry called, “Beauty For Ashes!” I am VERY excited to host a women’s retreat at some point, and YES I AM ALREADY PLANNING IN MY HEAD TO DO ONE WHEN I GET BACK TO THE STATES Y’ALL!
I am just so full. I love my ladies on my squad, I love my God, I love my Jesus, and I love the Holy Spirit who dwells inside me!
I LOVE YOU ALL, thanks for reading! Please just continue to pray for healing for all of the women on my squad (me too), God Bless!
