Girl #1- “My mom puts me down every opportunity she gets. She is verbally and physically abusive to me. My father abandoned me when I was 5. I feel undeserving of being loved. I hate going home. I have no safe place. I just feel like killing myself.”
Breathe in, Breathe out. Reload.
Girl #2-“My father abandoned me when I was 6. My mother remarried and my stepfather refuses to treat me as a daughter. He takes cares for each of my brothers, but since he is not my biological father he refuses love me and abuses me daily. My mom doesn’t fight for me, she lets him abuse me. I feel like no one cares for me. I just feel like killing myself.”
Breathe in, breathe out. Reload.
Girl #3-“My parents left me with a babysitter when I was 5 and he raped me. I told my father but instead he ridiculed me for it. My parents regularly call me a prostitute for what happened. My childhood and innocence was taken and they treat me as if it were my fault. I just feel like killing myself.”
Breathe in, breathe out. Reload.
Girl #4-“I dropped out of school for 3 years to help my family survive. I helped to get my younger siblings through school. Now I am 20 years old in the 11th grade. I get picked on every day because I’m the oldest person in my class. They constantly tell me I am stupid and should just stop trying. I just want to do well for my future but it feels like it is in vain. I just feel like killing myself.”
Breathe in, breathe out.
We visited a school in Guatemala that had over 20 cases of children contemplating suicide. One after the other came in with no time to process what was being said. These are the accounts of 4 of the girls I spoke to. We had the chance to minister to each one and deposit hope. There is a lot of hurting here. God is working. He sends us, His people, to be a light in their darkness. He wants in.
