Another night in Kenya. Mercy, Praise, and Grace just finished braiding my hair. I can’t even count all the braids. While I look like a nut, the girls had fun and I loved spending time with them. These girls are 13, 12, and 9 years old. I’m living with all of them this month. They remind me of my littlest sisters Hannah and Grace. I miss them!
Mercy wants to be a Doctor and we talk about her science homework. Praise loves singing. She wrote her first song when she was four years old. She told me Jesus gives her the words. She has the sweetest voice. Grace is the youngest and the shy one. She doesn’t say much to me in English, but she can sure break into Swahili and say a thing or two to the other girls! They all have beautiful chocolate skin and closely shaved heads. Many have to have very short hair for school, so they love when someone has hair for them to practice braiding. They are beautiful inside and out. I love when I have the chance to tell little girls that don’t feel beautiful that they are.
These girls are not even all sisters by birth. The Pastor has some foster children that live with his family. This doesn’t seem to matter much to the girls. They all just love each other.
Another thought I had while the girls were braiding my hair was how a braid is like how a marriage should be. It should be three people, not just two. Just like a braid, it’s stronger that way. When two people try to make a marriage work without God, it either falls apart or at the best is not all it could be.
My team and I have seen many marriages in trouble and just ones that have fallen apart or seem about to. Many of our contacts have admitted to problems in this area and I have just seen unhealthy relationships. Even in Christian marriages this is a great place for Satan to attack. What would be better then destroying the beautiful picture of what marriage is supposed to be? There is a lot of evil at work in this area and we need to pray for marriages to be strong and realize how much God is needed at the center. I feel that many people believe they are doing good works and while that may be true if your marriage doesn’t remain your top priority, the rest won’t matter.
Like marriage, Mercy, Praise, and Grace are beautiful things created by God.
