I was able to do a Beauty for Ashes event for 30 Muslim ladies around early December of 2018 in Lebanon. The ladies that I spoke to were either widowed, divorced or their husbands were unable to work due to illnesses.
I was told to talk about ‘finding peace’ by a lovely woman that works for ‘Global Orphan Project’. I was excited for the opportunity but only had about two days to prepare and one of the biggest struggles for me while preparing was “how do I relate to these women? Why will these ladies listen to me? I haven’t gone through anything that they have gone through.” It was a roadblock that I had to overcome and trust that God would be the one speaking through me and I didn’t need to worry.
On the day of the event, I stand in front of these ladies and ask them “Who currently in this room has worries or are struggling, stressing over something?” They all raise up their hands. “What are those worries? What stresses you out?”
My eyes start to tear up as I stand & listen to each women as they share their worries and struggles with me. Most of them shared similar worries “I’m a widow, I have to provide for my family, my kids have no future, I have no hope, I’m worried about feeding my children, my husband is sick and can’t provide for us, I’m worried every night I go to bed, I can’t sleep, my husband left me and I don’t feel loved or wanted, I don’t have enough money”. Some of the ladies were saying that they don’t share with others what truly is going on in their lives, some were contemplating suicide and some would cry themselves to sleep every night. My heart was hurting for these women, wishing that I could help them all. As I start to speak, more tears start to roll down my cheeks. I take a pause as I try to fight back the tears.
These women wanted to be heard, they wanted to share their struggles, they just want people to listen to what they have to say.
Finding peace can be a challenge when our lives have been turned upside down through painful circumstances. When we lose things like our jobs, our husbands either through divorce or death we may find ourselves being fearful or anxious about our future, feel ashamed, feel lonely.
We may be filled with fear and worry about how we are going to survive financially. We can fear or be anxious about change, loss of our children, loss of stability, loss of friends or being judged… Or how am I going to get the kids to school this morning? Will there be enough food for the kids?
The list of things is practically endless. Lack of peace can drive us towards making situations worse as we can become anxious and moody.
I shared Philippians 4 – 7, it says “Don’t worry about anything”. Worry robs you of peace. It says “Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience Gods peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace keeps your thoughts and hearts quite and at rest as you trust in Jesus.
I decided to do an illustration on how to get Gods peace in their lives by using a balloon. Yep, that’s right a balloon.
So, I explained it this way, when you’ve got worry in your life it’s like me filling the balloon with air. If I were to keep filling this balloon with air, what would happen?
Balloon pops Yep, the balloon pops.
Hold up some pieces of the balloon So this is how your life kind of ends up, in pieces.
So, God says I don’t want you to have a life filled with worry, that’s falling apart in pieces. We will have worry that comes up in our lives. But God says you don’t have to worry because you can pray to Jesus.
So, the worry comes into your life, you can pray and what happens to the worry? . . . . It goes away ‘balloon deflates’.
So as worry comes into your life, what else can you do? . . . You can trust in Jesus and as you trust in Jesus, what happens to the worry? . . . It disappears. That’s how you get rid of it and if you want real piece in your life you’re only going to have to pray more and trust in Jesus more.
Sometimes our peace crumbles because we’ve placed our trust in people that have hurt us (physically & emotionally) and that trust has been broken. We’ve put our trust in jobs, the government, economy, or anything except completely in God. Watching your world crumble around you brings to light where you’ve really placed your peace. God doesn’t need us to be robots that mindlessly follow after Him. He longs for His people to boldly trust in His loving hands over their lives even when it seems like all is lost. Begin to trust God on the smaller issues so that you can build a strong trust relationship with Him that will restore your peace.
God desires to have a personal relationship with all of us! Jesus desires to have a personal relationship with all of us! When Jesus came down from heaven, he came to be close to us. He desires to be close to us. He wants us to talk to him like we would to our best friends. I want you to experience what I’ve experienced. He is my protector, He is my hope, He is my comforter. When I cry out in prayer, He hears me. He hurts when I hurt, He wraps me in His loving arms and comforts me when I’m hurt. All He desires is a close relationship with Him and I don’t have to do anything to earn his love. His love is constant and He loves me just the same, from the day I was in my mothers whom.
After I shared about finding peace in God, I decided to do an activation activity. I asked the ladies to use the paper in front of them to write or draw a symbol of what they are currently worrying about and what areas in their lives they wanted peace in.
The Lord tells us that when we cast our cares on Him, He will heal our hurts. He will bind up our wounds. It was an opportunity for them to cast their cares on the Lord. To let go of carrying the burden themselves and let God carry their worry, hurt, care, burden, or their pain. I got them to place the paper in a box and when everyone’s paper was placed in the box, I set them on fire. This symbolizes them giving God what was on their hearts. Once they put it in the box, they don’t have to worry about it anymore and they can rest in peace that God has it all under His control.
After this I led a fun art class! I loved this so much and so did the ladies!
We had previously set up little canvasses for each women. I sat on the stage, next to me was the painting I had previously painted with a blue faded background and the word PEACE written in Arabic in the middle.
I had a smaller canvas and did a step by step guide on how to paint the painting.
A lot of laughter and joy filled the room as we painted together.
This was one of my favourite Beauty for Ashes events I have done to date and I have done a lot of them.
I will always remember these beautiful ladies! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the event but the memories will forever stay with me.
I do have one picture of the painting I did for our art class!
Fundraising update: God is so good and I have raised $17,002 USD! My total amount that needs to be raised is $18,700 USD. That’s $1,698 USD left!
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