I was going to post a blog about our trekking trip today but this is heavy on my heart, so this first.
My team visited a leper colony today. I went with few expectations except thinking that all the people would have big, white boils on their bodies and that I wouldn’t be able to touch them. And if I’m being completely honest, I think I thought they’d be different than me.
Well, it was far different than any of those expectations. When we arrived, I sat down and just started talking it up with 4 of the people there.
They’re people. We laughed, we smiled, we talked. I felt home. I felt the love of Jesus in this place even though not all of them have Him yet.
As I sat and chatted it up with my new friends, I saw one of them staring at my hands and feet…she wouldn’t stop. She said something to Anup, our translator, and he looked at me and said,
‘she’s looking at your fingers and toes and said she doesn’t have the same as you. She wish she did.’
I sat there in a cloud not knowing what to say…this woman, who’s fingers and toes were being slowly taken away because of her disease, wanted my long fingers and toes I was self conscious about? My teammate chimed in and said, ‘but you know you are so beautiful to the Lord!’
I have been made fun of a lot and received a lot of comments on how long my fingers and toes are. I’ve gotten self conscious about them and wanted them to be shorter. I wanted to change the way God made me because I felt insecure that I wasn’t like everyone else or that I wasn’t proportional.
That all changed today.
Who are we to judge or ever criticize the way God made anyone? He has created each person exactly how He wanted them to be-perfect in His sight.
So I sit knowing that God created me just how He wanted me but also, He created this woman exactly how He wanted her. And I pray we were able to love her well today so that she knows the love the Father has for her.
Through this, I was able to share Jesus’s love to 2 non-believers. I encouraged them that when Jesus came to earth, his closest friends were the sinners, the sick, the outcasts. He loved them unconditionally and He loves us unconditionally.
He loves me unconditionally. He loves you unconditionally. And He loves every single part of us, even the ones we don’t like! Don’t ever let the world let you think you are not beautiful…because you are. And in the eyes of Jesus, you are the most beautiful.
Oh, and my expectation of not being able to touch them…yeah, the Lord told me to touch them before we left. So I looked them in the eye, I put my hand on them and told them, ‘Jesus loves you and I love you.’
