I
thoroughly LOVE deep conversation & meaningful relationships. However in a
months time, those don’t always happen. And here even less because we aren’t
suppose to talk to the girls about their pasts. Understandable.
So
I’m learning that its not all about what I want (deep relationships) but its
about what is needed. And I am finding that what is most often needed with the
girls is just normalcy. So I pump water with
them, learn random words in their language, play with their babies, & sit
with them. It seems like I am not doing
much of anything. But I know that it’s the most necessary thing for them.
This
passed week I got up and shared a “message� for the first time on this trip.
This probably sounds odd to some of you that I haven’t jumped at every
opportunity to speak & share what God is saying. I’m not sure why I didn’t
for the first 5 months of this trip. But I do know that I have started back on
the path to normal Emily…speaking what God is saying…and LOVING every minute of
it.
So
yeah, this week I got the honor to share with the girls at their daily chapel
what I felt God was saying & teaching me too. I spoke on Isaiah 62:2-5
about how God gives us NEW NAMES. How even though people in the past have said bad things about
us, God comes in & speaks a better word, a better NAME. And our only job
is to believe it. It was fun!!! And I am realizing that teaching what God
is saying is something that gives me LIFE. Man alive…it changed my whole day.
It seriously was the best day in the past 2 months!!!!
And
after having built this “normal� friendship with the girls, I felt like they
listened to me…not because I had a deep conversation with any of them. But I
felt like the ones I sat with & played with were the ones that actually
listened to what God was saying. And for them to listen to what God is saying
simply because I sit with them, know their names, & laugh with them… MAKES
IT ALL WORTH IT! Shoot, let me hold their crying babies, pump their water, and
whatever else if that makes me listen to whatever comes out of my mouth on god’s
behalf. Sign me up!!!
Also
this week I saw some of the girls I’m closest to playing a game like Mancala.
So I watched & then they let me play. It’s fun to play with them and win…hehe.
We joke about how I beat them at the game. They think it’s funny. What they don’t
know is that I used to play Mancala by myself in my room for hours…because no
one else would play with me. So I’ve had ample time to practice with the basic
skills. Still we have fun playing. I’m enjoying hanging out with them.
THEY AREN’T JUST WOMEN…THEY ARE MY
FRIENDS!!!
