My teammate Kenni and I have organically come together as prayer buddies, encouraging one another to be bold and go out, pray over the village, make relationships with people, and let the Holy Spirit guide us.
One afternoon, Kenni and I naturally found ourselves heading out to stop by one of the many snack shops spotted throughout Hmarkhawlien, the village we live in. On our way out of the school gates, an older, slightly dirty woman came onto the school grounds and began chatting with us. Her words were a little sporadic, but regardless we decided to stay and chat with her because she was eager to spend time with us. Kenni and I eventually joined her on a nearby bench. She introduced herself, telling us her name was “Belief.” This didn’t happen in one fail swoop, though. Like I said before, her words were all over the place. She mentioned something about her family, but it was kind of hard to put together what she was saying. She also mentioned the Lord multiple times. She seemed to be an advocate for unity as she kept talking about how we were sisters, created by the same God. We laughed a lot; at one point, Belief jokingly called Kenni sexy and we all burst into laughter. Kenni and I didn’t really know what she was talking about at that point, but the interaction was harmless and Belief seemed excited to talk to us, so we remained.
Throughout this entire interaction, the Lord was highlighting the beauty of Belief’s joy. Belief demonstrated authentic wonder and appreciation for divine creation (people, family, conversation) — authentic belief was found in Belief.
Belief eventually invited us to her house. After 10 minutes of trying to understand where she lived and getting nowhere, she walked us over to her house, which doubled as a snack shop, invited us in, and introduced us to her sisters.
As Belief was introducing us, one of her sisters gestured, indicating “crazy,” and briefly apologized. I realized that her sister was trying to apologize because Belief had special needs, but in my head I thought, “so what?”
So what she’s not like everyone else. Does that mean our conversation was a burden to me? Does that mean her presence needed to be promptly followed by a shameful apology? Does that mean I shouldn’t be getting to know her like I would had it been anyone else?
This is not the first time I’ve had this kind of interaction in India. After a church service a few weeks prior to this, a 12 or 13 year old girl came up and gave me a big hug. This wasn’t abnormal, as most of the kids were coming up to all of us, chatting with us, hugging us, or asking for pictures. However, an older man standing nearby felt obligated to apologize and make a disclaimer that she had special needs. I acknowledged him but insisted that there was no problem.
This interaction broke my heart as well. The stigma around people with special needs is unsettling. No one should be made to feel as a burden or that their existence or interactions call for an apology.
I have been passionate about advocating for those who have special needs in other countries ever since I wrote a piece on the mental health crisis in Ghana my freshman year of high school.
In this article, I wrote about the horrible conditions individuals with any sort of special need or mental illness were placed in. In Ghana, these people are chained to trees, neglected, deemed unworthy of humane treatment, and abused. They’re hidden away and labeled as shameful to their community and family or cursed. While those I have interacted with in India have not been physically chained down to trees, they are still chained down by ignorant stigmas and the idea that they are burdens. This is unacceptable.
Ignorance breeds abuse. Humans tend to try and stifle or ignore the things or people they don’t understand or that make them uncomfortable. If we don’t stop ignoring the hurt we are inflicting by not addressing individuals affected all over the world by the heavy stigma placed on special needs and mental illness, abuse and pain will continue to grow unknowingly. As we close our eyes to potential or current problems, we leave space for evil, pain, sadness, and hurt to roam freely and wreak havoc. So, let’s address the hard things. Let’s ask the hard questions.
Why, if someone is different than the majority, are they labeled as a burden?
I guarantee no one feels like a burden in Divine presence. Heaven is drenched with perfect Love and never ending Justice (God = Love = Justice). Rather than pretending like the hurt we don’t directly experience is nonexistent, we should seek to speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves and fill in the cracks others have made in their lives with Love. Our goal should be to align the way of the world with that of heaven.
No human being should be treated as too complicated or unworthy to get to know. We need to stop writing off others just because of their difference in appearance or mental capability. This needs to be talked about more. We as humans need to stop pretending that Justice has already been fully carried out for every human being. We need to stop pretending everything is okay just because we’re okay. Stop letting privilege blind you from fighting for those living at the hands of oppression, hate, ignorance, and abuse.
My teammate Care once said, “Progress does not equal completion.” (This was said during a teaching she gave on the Lord’s heart for Justice.) We can either choose to pretend that the progress already made is enough, or we can fight for Divine completion. We can fight for every individual to feel Loved. We can fight to fulfill the Lord’s desire for every individual to feel Love in all its fullness.
Care also said, “We can’t be selective with who we want to see the glory of the Lord.” I want to take this a step further.. We should not knowingly allow anyone to fall victim to hate, ignorance, or abuse, because these things don’t exist when submerged in the full glory of the Lord. For the Lord is love. The Lord is wisdom. The Lord is gentleness and mercy. The Lord is justice. So, let’s fight to be his Love and Justice reflected. Let’s fight for those who we come in contact with to experience at least a sliver of God’s glory through how we treat them and fight for them. This doesn’t just apply humans who look or act like you, either. All means All.
So, how do we practically carry this out?
I think in America we have started making progress in creating a better place for people with special needs to live and feel loved, but that is not to say America is even close to fulfillment in this.
People need to stop saying one thing and doing another when it comes to individuals with special needs. I’ve sadly seen many people use individuals as props, posing with them for an Instagram post but then never truly caring enough to further pursue a friendship. This creates an image of love while neglecting Love altogether. When our ego takes precedent over other people’s souls, there’s a problem. Ive seen a lot of people longing to appear as loving but not truly allowing Love to conquer over their ignorance, carelessness or discomfort.
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth. [1 John 3:18]
The truth is, we need to stop letting our pride take priority over other humans’ hearts, whether that means not apologizing for or being embarrassed by others who are simply just being themselves or not using those same people as props to appear as “good.” Both of these things are painted with ignorance.
Let’s not wallow in our misunderstanding in people who are different than us. Educate yourself on how to love others best. Get to know people, figure out what works for them and what they need. No one said love is easy. It takes time and work. It takes true motivation to pour into others. God created each of us uniquely and intricately for a reason, and because of this, he shows up in people’s lives in different ways. He doesn’t robotically try and love every single person in the same way. Instead, he intricately and purposefully seeks to Love us in ways that make us feel truly Loved and heard, cared for and fought for, sought after and uniquely Loved. Divine Love is only one, belonging to our Lord and overflowing through our hearts; but the Lord has designed this Love in a way that it can be reflected perfectly in an infinite amount of ways to fit what every piece of creation needs every second of every day. Loving others isn’t about what we need or what makes us comfortable, it’s about seeking out what others need.
The truth is, people need to stop limiting Love as only for those who fit into their boxes, who are similar to them, or who “deserve” it in their eyes. For our heart is just as undeserving and deserving as every human heart that’s ever pulsed on planet earth.
There’s no perfect way for us to pursue others wholeheartedly because we are imperfect humans. Imperfection is okay. As long as we are striving for Love, we are pleasing to the Divine. We can start reflecting his Love by showing grace to everyone in the same way we long for grace to be given to us as we strive to live out true Love and Justice everyday.
The book of Micah captures Divine Justice and Love in a wonderful way. In this book, Micah, a prophet, is telling the people of Israel (Samaria and Jerusalem) of the destruction their wrongdoings (corruption, greed, etc.) are going to bring on them. He also reminds them of what the Lord requires, or what they have failed to do…
“With what shall I come before the Lord, and now myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness (steadfast love), and to walk humbly with your God? [Micah 6:6-8]
Justice is good, Loving kindness is good, Humility is good, and we should pursue what is good. We should take the reality that we have not been doing enough to Love people who are socially neglected with humility, not offense or defense. We should carry out our next actions with kindness and steadfast love toward all. Lastly, we should fight for their Justice, for their needs to be met. Not just physical needs… Emotional needs, social needs, spiritual needs. We should fight to give others a voice. We should for universal understanding. Ultimately, we should fight for human beings to feel Love.
Chapter seven of the book of Micah paints a morbid picture of a world filled with evil, corruption, and fear. This chapter is personifying Israel as a suffering, defeated individual in the midst of this chaos bred out of a lack of Justice, Love, humility, and kindness.
But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.[Micah 7:7-8]
My prayer is that individuals who are misunderstood, neglected, or abused due to their special needs or mental illness get a taste of the Lord’s true Justice and Love. I pray that they cling to him and know that he is fighting for them. I also pray this over every human on earth, and that through this, we can reflect the Justice and Love the Lord pours into us back into those around us. For when we’re focused on the Lord’s will, his wisdom is like a light to us, not only revealing the ignorance, hurt, and abuse that still lurks around on this earth, chewing away at our humanity, but also revealing his Divine solutions to these parasitic problems. Every step we take toward his will and his light is a step taken toward true Justice for all.
