This month we’ve been in Panama City working with our host, Shibu, and his family. We are their first ever World Race team. They are also just starting a brand-new ministry here trying to reach the Hindu and Indian community in Panama City. This presented our team with an amazing opportunity to show them what The World Race is and what to expect from future teams. It also gave us the opportunity to bless them in unexpected ways.
Some of you may not know, but my leadership role on the squad is the Beauty For Ashes coordinator. Beauty For Ashes is Adventures in Missions women’s ministry. The vision for Beauty For Ashes is to see restored women of all nations serving as Christ’s ambassadors for change, healing, and freedom in their homes, communities, and cultures. We help create a space to open the door for communication in hopes of making connections between the women that cause a lasting impact. My job is to make sure that, if there is a desire for something like that in the communities we serve in, we make it happen. Upon arriving and seeing our schedule for the month, we asked our ministry host if they might be interested in doing a women’s event sometime during our stay. They agreed but with all the other ministry we weren’t sure if we would be able to make it happen.
Yesterday, 3 days before we leave the country, we were able to hold their first Beauty For Ashes event. I was so excited when Shibu called us and said that we would be able to have the event. I sat down that night and started looking at what we could do in the amount of time we had with the resources we had. I also sat down and went over the manual to make sure that I was doing the event in the way it was designed to be done, and I saw that the first thing I was supposed to do was to write out a prayer. So, I did. This is my prayer that I wrote the day before the event was to happen.
God, I pray that tomorrow’s retreat is exactly what you want it to be. I pray for the women who will be coming. I pray that they feel you move in a way that they have never felt before. I pray that they hear your voice. I pray that they are known and loved well tomorrow. I pray that they feel safe and free to share their stories and form lasting bonds with one another. That tomorrow makes a lasting impact on the women who show up. I pray that your hand guides me in the preparations of this event. I pray that your will be done, not mine. I pray that you show me exactly what this community needs and how to do that. I will wait for your direction. God, thank you for the opportunity to bless these women in this way. Thank you for making this happen. You love them so much and I pray that you help us show that love to them. Thank you for using us. Your will be done.
The morning of the event we went to the store to grab snacks and stuff for decorations, and I gave the team a run-down of the timeline and a few instructions on what to do. After that, the team sat in the floor of the living room of our hostel and spent our team-time making paper flowers and butterflies to decorate the room with. They turned out absolutely beautiful.
Upon arriving at the home where we would be hosting the event, we set out the snacks and put the flowers and butterflies. The woman who lived in the home made us leave the flowers once we were done because she liked them so much.
We started with a little introduction and information about what Beauty For Ashes is and what we would be doing, and then we broke for snacks. Then we played an ice breaker game with m&m’s. The women would grab a few m&m’s and the colors coordinated with a question they would need to answer. When we started answering the questions, I began to realize how much these women needed the space to be able to speak. Our event was only 2 hours long and I knew that I needed to create more space in that time to allow for them to share. After the ice breaker, I went into explaining about how Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Jesus already knew what they thought, but in asking them that question it made them think and grow deeper in their understanding of how they really saw Jesus. I asked the women the same question. When you think about God, what do you see? What is the first thing you think of? I then showed them my own drawing of my view of God. I shared with them how at times I feel so close to God that I can hear his voice and know exactly what He wants from me, but that right now He seems to be missing. I was feeling far from God, and wondering why. I explained that my feelings of God doesn’t change the reality of who God is, but it does effect how I live my life. I also explained that by drawing this, I realized that I was missing my connection to God and I knew what to do to fix it. I told them to think about this question and draw what their view of God was, and once they were done we would share what they are.
Once they were finished and we started sharing, something beautiful happened. They started opening up about their lives in a way I hadn’t expected. One woman told us that she doesn’t have any close friends in her life. She said that God was her best friend. The person that she ran to tell everything to whenever she needed to talk was God. As beautiful as that sounds, it also made me incredibly sad. We weren’t meant to do life alone. We were made to live in community. My dream is that soon these women create a bond and become the community they all are desperately desiring. Another girl opened-up about her struggles this past year with her identity in Christ. She explained how hard it was to remember who God says she is sometimes. Isn’t that something we can all relate to? That’s why creating a community for women is important. We can share things with one another and know that we are heard and understood. This event created that space for these women. It told them that their voice is important and that their story matters.
After the event was over, I was speaking with Lili, Shibu’s wife, and she said that this was something that the Indian women really need. That in Indian culture, a wife is to do what her husband says and that sometimes women feel unseen and unheard. She was so excited thinking about how an event like this could change the lives of the Indian women here in Panama. I was blown away by the difference those 2 hours made in these women’s lives. Two of the women said, that we should come back to Panama once we are done with our trip and do another event. The women here in Panama deserve to know how loved they are. They deserve to know that their voice is important. They need to know that they can create a community for themselves. They need to know they are not alone.
My prayer for the community going forward is this:
God, I pray that this was only a beginning for these women. I pray that they felt loved. I pray that they continue to desire community so much that they create it here. I pray that they no longer feel like they must go through life alone. I pray that they come along-side one another and lift each other up. I pray blessings over each of their lives. I pray for their families. I pray that they know how powerful their story is and that it deserves to be heard. I pray they felt your love for them. I pray they walked away with a greater understanding of who you are to them and how they see you. I pray they know that you are constant in the trials, and that you never leave them. I pray your protection over them. God, keep them safe. God, thank you for giving us the opportunity to love these women. Thank you for using us. Thank you for the fruit that will come from that day. I praise you for the work you are already doing. Thank you for loving us all so well. I love you, too!
