We were sitting in front of the classroom not sure what to talk about to a group of young women ranging from 14-19 years old. In order, to break the ice, we just started asking about where they lived and if they liked school. We learned that some of the girls lived hours away and stayed in the village ALONE during the week to be able to go to school for a better education.
Then the conversation shifted. We asked if any of the girls were in relationships. Of course, they were super shy and did not want to admit they were into boys like that or they were too old for us to be in their business. But we knew the truth. I mean we’ve all been there, right? That’s when we felt it was best to share pieces of our testimonies that would resonate with them. This gave the girls a platform of comfort and security to tell us about their lives.
There was one brave soul willing to talk to us about her experience. Onintsoa (pronounced Un-sue) is such a strong young woman. She is one of the many students who stay in the village during the week for a better education. When she does go home to visit her family, she has a 12 hour WALK home.
This young lady was afraid to tell us her story. She cried through it but felt freedom afterwards. She told us about how she lost her virginity to a boy who told her he loved her. And she cried because she thought God no longer loved her.
We did tell her the truth. Jesus loves you regardless of what you’ve done and He knows and that’s why he died on the cross. He loves us that much to know we stumble and that he will forgive us. We have to be willing to ask for forgiveness and have confidence in it.
When I say there is beauty in a broken vase I am talking about the beauty in a testimony, a story of the Lord’s love, her story, your story. Just like this girl’s brokenness was beautiful because the Lord wanted to heal her in her pain, assure her of His love.
The story in John 8: 1-11 kept replaying in my head. And “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” I mean we all have our moments. We all have our stories. We all have that time in our lives when we made a mistake and thought that God didn’t love us anymore.
We can’t look at her, ourselves, or each other without love because she did something wrong. Oftentimes we, believers in Christ, don’t talk about certain things because of the way we feel it will be perceived. But that’s the thing, we should be able to talk to people about what we are going through without being afraid of what others think.
The translator with us told Onintsoa to call her anytime she wanted to talk. This made me so happy because I didn’t want us to leave and her to not have someone to talk to. As one of our Squad Coaches, Matt, said during debrief, “Relationships are bridges that truth is delivered across.” Relationships are the primary vehicle when sharing the Gospel.
Let me pose this question– Are we doing our part to be an open door for someone else that may be struggling? Do we have someone to talk to when we are facing hard times? If someone wanted to talk to us about their lives, are we open to objectively listen, free of judgment?
I had to do a gut check myself.
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