I don’t really have words to describe this girl I met and how the small journey we took with her has impacted me. Alexandra, Destrey and I sought her out many more times after that initial day, and many more conversations were had. We got in contact with past ministry hosts, with our parents, with employees at an orphanage, with children’s homes, with the Department of Social Services. Anyone who we trusted and might guide us in the right direction towards helping our girl.
It was kind of like riding a roller coaster.
Moments of high, moments of deep low, but overall, moments of consciously choosing to, in the words of my incredible friend Alexandra, “blindly trust in the Lord”. We became deeply invested in this girl’s situation. We spent many hours eating meals and talking with her, sometimes on a mission of finding out more about her situation, sometimes just to get to know her heart more.
There was so much give and take, so much back and forth. It was honestly exhausting going from having so much joy and hope for her and getting her off the streets to a door being blatantly shut in our faces. But we did not lose hope. We kept striving to invest in her, to build her up in Christ. Alex and Destrey tell me of their times reading the bible with her and talking about God’s love for them. That melts my heart! If this entire Race, if these past nine months and everything that has happened was so we could tangibly show this lovely girl the adoration Jesus has for her, it’s all worth it. Nothing matters more to me than showing this radiant and wild love my Savior has for me and each person He has created.
I hope my life portrays this.
I hope the people around me see the light I can’t help but reflect.
I hope they see not just a kind person, but a person who is genuinely in love with God, with I AM, with the Presence that is my Purpose.
The story of this girl with no shoes does not have the happiest ending. It wasn’t so easy for me to accept.
Alex, in contact with Social Services, told me that our girl spent the night off the streets in a children’s home. She visited her there and spent some time seeing how she liked it. All seemed well, it seemed like a great fit, we were leaving her in a safe and loving place, which is all we wanted!
But she couldn’t stay there.
Social Services explained to us that since this girl has a family here in the city that is willing to take care of her, she cannot legally be taken in by the children’s home. They found her family, sent her back to live with them, and that’s it.
I didn’t get to say goodbye.
I don’t know the extent of which her family desires to take care of her. This girl needs mental help, and I’m sure her family can’t afford that for her. No teenage girl runs away from a sound and healthy home to live on the streets, so I don’t know the extent of her safety there. I really don’t know anything about it, except that I love this girl a lot and am praying she will find rest in God’s embrace. That she will feel His protection and that she will find her identity solely in Him. It is a situation of pure blind trust.
I am happy that our girl seemed happy there. She seemed, as far as we are told, okay with going back to live there. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord’s sovereignty was surrounding us, and that gives me more hope than anything else could that our girl, MY girl, is safe in Christ’s arms.
I will continue to pray big prayers as she grows up even more, that she will know the one true King, that she will no longer have to live a life on the streets, and that she will pursue Him above all else.
It’s people like this who I meet and make me think, what matters more in life than bringing the gospel and the saving grace of Jesus to our world that is a mess of brokenness and hurt? What is more important than that? How can I let myself be distracted by my future plans, what I am wearing, when I am eating next, analyzing my relationships, or being discontent with my current circumstances?
I need Jesus to constantly bring my focus back to Him and bringing more of Him into the world. God, give me the maturity to set my eyes on you and not the ever-fading things of this world that grab, yank, pull, reach, and pry for our attention. What is lasting? What is important?
What does the Lord consider pure and faultless?
Jesus, I want more of you, always more of you, more and more and more of your sweet, soul-filling presence.
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I’m going to go a little out of order here and share a story from Nepal before Rwanda because I want to end this blog with a story of redemption, faith, and ultimate healing. It’s a good story. It’s a joyful story. It’s a story I am proud to say that I had a part in and was there to witness. This is a blog written by my dear friend Alexandra Tumminello. She wrote it several months ago, right after this miracle took place.
How do you explain the unexplainable?
We just got back from a week spent in a village where the small amount of Christians are extremely persecuted and rejected for their faith. The stories and livelihoods of these people we met were hard, yet so soaked with revival and Jesus’s relentless pursuit after each heart. This week was unexplainable. Miracles were seen, the sick were healed, the lame walked, the broken became whole. There are so many stories to share about the glory and love we witnessed falling on that place. Here is a journal entry about one that so radically changed my life, and so many others:
We said “stand up and walk”
And he walked.
Sohan.
We walked into the room and he was there, tiny, crumpled against the wall, eyes wide, desperate.
He was lame, he was born without any ability to walk due to back deformities.
He was broken from the outside in as hopelessness and depression clouded his eyes, his lifeless legs lay so fragilely on the floor.
His mom brought him to us asking for prayer, desperately seeking a miracle in this precious boys life.
We prayed.
Never have I prayed so hard, never have I wanted anything more.
Let me tell you, when 22 girls are praying with their whole hearts those prayers are unstoppable.
Standing over us, his hands embracing Sohan, His presence was so strong as He prayed right alongside us.
Passion, authority, desperation, faith.
We prayed, we prayed so hard.
“In the name of Jesus, you are healed. Stand up and walk.”
Tears falling, hands shaking, we watched as he tenderly stood up.
And he walked.
Straight into his mothers arms, this boy who could not walk, walked.
He was healed right before our eyes, glory fell.
The way we rejoiced cannot come close to how our Papa did.
Sohan, your faith will change this world.
Our ministry contact told us, “welcome to the greatest revival on planet earth.”
That could not be more true. My life is being transformed as I am in the midst of the fire that is bringing life into a country.
Pray for this place, pray for these people. Our God is so alive, so powerful, so so good.
