She Called me "So Beautiful"
(Here are the girls that made my day-She was the 2nd girl from the left)
Yesterday, a young girl hanging out the Jeepee, as the children were about to leave the AWANAS feeding program at our church( every saturday our church feeds over 200 children in the area in need) told me out the window as I said goodbye to her, “ You are so beautiful!”. I didn’t know her. All I said to her was goodbye after the feeding program, with a smile as the Jeepee was about to pull away. I didn’t even know her name. This young girl spoke from her heart those life giving words. These 4 words spoke to a place in my heart that reached deep down. Her words were so sweet and straight from her heart. They exhibited the pure love of a child. They weren’t said in jealousy or in boasting. They weren’t proud. God really used this young girl who maybe 9 years old to speak to the depths of who I am. It sounds so simple but it was exactly what I needed to hear.
Not my scattered thoughts of self doubt… What more can I be doing here at this ministry? Or…Why can’t I seem to get all of these kids names right? Why am I feeling like my impact is not significant in the lives of these children? I’m just going to come and go like many others have in & out of their lives. Why do I want to get close to them only to break their heart when I leave…
In the midst of all my self doubt and questioning while staying at the children's home this month, God reached down and out to me through this young girl and said the words I needed to hear; “ You are SO beautiful”. Maybe my job here is simpler than I thought. Realizations and truth spoken from the lips of a child; I am here to leave a mark of God’s beauty. Through that beauty; his gracious love, his compassion, and I am able to die to myself and my desires. Yes, at times it is a mess, but I surrender this beautiful mess to Jesus. In fact a broken and contrite heart the Lord does not despise. His power is made perfect in my weaknesses. So these next couple weeks I choose to love freely like a child. To give my all because these 26 children look up to us like they would a parental figure in
their life.
(6 yr old Rosalie & I)
I see beauty and strength in the way children freely give love and trust. Even though they know we will leave in a few weeks… they choose to LOVE. They love freely like Christ. To me that is “So Beautiful” …This is how I know what love is.
