This month we have had the opportunity to do women’s ministry. We have made a countless number of beads together and shared bible lessons to them. Starting from the beginning of learning to the end of the month finally making a full finished necklace. These women come from very poor villages and have had children at a very young age as young at 13.
One our last day working with the women we hosted a beauty for ashes day for them. The day was packed full of activities, bible lessons, laughter, surprises, broken chairs from musical chairs, and chocolate and tea.
My team had poured into this day everything that we could do. Making paper banners, hanging handmade decorations, making sure we had a big enough cake, writing personalized letters, creating fun games, getting nail polish, making sure supplies for foot washing was in order, everything… We had high hopes for the day but we never imagined how the day would truly go.
Schedule of the day:
Welcome
Icebreaker: Musical Chairs
Activity: Drawing of God
Activity: Drawing of Yourself
Story: 100 Cows & the Bride
Application and Gospel Story
Feet Washing
Cake and manicures
Closing and gifts
For the first drawing we drew a picture of my relationship with God.
For my drawing of my relationship with God I have always seen myself sitting on a bench with Him on a sunny spring day holding hands. I always have seen God as my best friend who is always by myside just wanting to sit and talk to me about my day. I have always seen God has a friend that is so close to me that I can lean my head over and rest it on His shoulder when I am troubled or worried. He is my comforter. I also see God has someone who holds you together because He is not afraid to wrap His arms around me and give me a big hug.
For the second drawing we drew a picture of how I view myself.
For my drawing of myself I drew myself looking into a mirror seeing my reflection. I was a bystander in this picture and could see both sides of myself, the front reflection and the back of my body. I was wearing a bright purple dress and was smiling but I had thoughts coming out all around my head. Words that said, never to be beautiful, overweight, too much, never enough, people pleaser, identify crisis, unlovable, never to be married, and much more lies that I have come to believe about myself. Words that I have believed for many years and have shaped me into who I believed I was. Until I realized that God promises me so much more for my identity and my worth. That in this picture I started to see all these words crossed on in red X’s showing me that these words no longer are to control me and shape who I am. And words started to pop up that said, daughter, princess of the King, beloved, forever mine, a beautiful bride, adopted into His family, more beautiful than precious jewels, and so much more. That was when I realized that the smile that I drew on myself was genuine and not just another fake smile but a smile that I truly believed and identified as.
So this leads us into the story we shared. I will keep this very short. We read a story that was able to be understood by African culture. In Africa when a bride is to be married her husband will give the father in law cows for her. This has become a very casual thing in Uganda. So the story goes that there is this women who has to be a servant for her more beautiful, smarter, lovelier sisters. She is forgotten about and has no value to her name. A prince is coming to their village and the father of these daughters is determined to show off his fathers to have one of them married. He doesn’t include this women who is the servant. He shows off all this daughters to the Prince when he arrives but fails to show the additional daughter. However the Prince asks for her. The father laughs and says there is no way that you would want her. However you can have her for a servant with one of my lovelier daughters for marriage. The Prince decide upon seeing this “unworthy” daughter that she is beautiful and far more worthy of his marriage that then other daughters and pays a large amount of 100 cows for her. In a few years the father comes to see his daughter that was married to the Prince and does not even recognize the new beautiful daughter he has. She found out that she was so much more worthy then she ever though through the unconditional love the Prince had shown her.
The women were moved by this story, and by my testimony of my personally finding my worth in the love of how guys would view me and love me. I felt overly emotionally as they all clapped to the news the Prince had paid 100 cows for this daughter. The breakthrough that two of my sisters in Christ accepted the Lord during this. The feelings that came with washing each and every one of their feet. Then the joy that we shared through cake and chocolate and goodbyes.
Remember women of God that you are so worthy. That your identity is found not in the things of this world but in Christ alone.
