I have no words to describe the beauty of what we are doing here in Colombia. We are staying half of the week in Medellin and the other half in the mountains of Manantiales (spring water). Manantiales is the second largest group of internally displaced people in all of Colombia. The people here are living in a type of poverty I have never experienced. Doing ministry here these first few days has completely solidified God’s call for my life.
Since I got back from training camp in July, I’ve been praying for boldness. Boldness to share my story, boldness to share the Gospel, and boldness to walk shamelessly in who God created me to be. I was given the opportunity to do so on the very first day of ministry in Manantiales. On this first day, we cleaned the place we are staying in and then broke out into groups to go out into the community. The group I was placed in was making a house visit to a woman’s home. This woman is a part of the discipleship program and has shown an eagerness to know more of Jesus. She and her daughter met us and guided us to their home. The walk from where we are staying to their home was crazy. Stairs are etched into the mountains, houses are stacked one on top of the other, dogs and children roaming free, and motorcycles running down anything in their path. When we arrived, our translator told us that the woman wanted all of us to share our spiritual journeys. Talk about a moment calling for boldness.
Testimonies are amazing tools to share tangible ways that God has moved. It’s easy to hand someone a Bible and say, “read this”. The hard part comes when it gets personal. When people want to know how that Bible and how the life of Jesus changed you.
For me, Jesus met me in a place of insecurity and longing. Longing to be wanted, worthy, and seen. Instead of finding those things at the feet of Jesus, I was lost searching in worldly vices. In my searching, my longings just grew deeper. Only once I was completely lost, broken, and wrecked did I find what I was looking for. He took me in my brokenness and showed me that I am wanted by the King of Kings, I am worthy of love, and I am seen as His precious daughter.
Sitting in one of the poorest places in Colombia, telling this to strangers was so incredible. Telling about the love of Jesus. A love so deep that He died on the cross to save us. That no matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, His love and redemption still covers all of us. He keeps no record of wrongs. When He saved me, my slate was wiped clean. As I was telling my story with tears staining my cheeks, I looked up to see the woman and her friend also weeping. Her friend proceeded to tell me how much hope my story gave for her two teenage daughters who are in similar spots as I was. Vulnerability breeds vulnerability.
The woman who asked us into her home began sharing her own story of her battle with drugs, teenage pregnancy, and poverty. How she is trying every day to break her cycle of drug use, how she built her home with her own hands in hopes of improving her kids’ lives, and how she is desperately trying to teach her kids who Jesus is. In this space of transparency, we were given the opportunity speak life and truth into her as well as pray over her. She is so much stronger than the chains that tie her to addiction. She is not seen as an addict in the eyes of the Lord, she is His beautiful creation that is longing to be healed.
A translator, the sweet lady, her children, her friend, and 5 missionaries crammed in a one bedroom home, one by one sharing of how God has moved. This is a moment I will remember forever. In this moment, I came to realize just how universal Jesus is. None of us had the same background or even spoke the same language, yet we all had one thing in common. Jesus. His redemption, grace, and immense never ending love. I can only pray that this moment is permanently branded on my heart and in my mind.
Isaiah 53:4-6
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
