It started nearly three years ago when I pulled up the shirt of one of my sixth grade students. It was filled with the details of a belt buckle and deep bruises. I cried and prayed with her and felt such a profound sense of hopelessness. I noticed that while no one enjoyed seeing such a sight most were in some way immune to it. She was the first of many abused girls that passes through my office and I began to bare this burden- the weight of which would sometimes take my breath away- for the young girls of the barrio.
It was that same year that we choose to cut our school in half due to funding and I knew that those most vulnerable would be leaving the covering of our school. I ached at the thought of them being pushed out of there homes into inappropriate relationships and even prostitution. I noticed that even girls with relatively supportive families were not looking to them for guidance and were being lost in this same cycle of abuse and sexual perversion. In February of 2006, with a sense of great urgency, I wrote a grant soliciting funds to train mentors that could provide a covering for these girls as I believed that even just someone cheering them on and helping them make the decisions of a lifetime could be a real benefit for them. And so night after night I dreamed of the faces of these girls and, as I prayed, the faces of our future mentors became clear as well.
I was very unsure about the combination of women and how to begin, so I just waited until I had clear direction. It started with a book that I passed out one by one to the women to read, and as we started studying and sharing alongside each other our hearts became united. Slowly a burden grew in them and soon they were desperately wanting to put something into action for these girls. We started with ourselves: telling the truth, being sincere, growing and healing together. We spend countless hours together until we felt it was time. We planned a retreat, studied our lessons, prayed about our testimonies and then surrendered it God, knowing that He was in control and that He loved these girls more than we could begin to.
Looking back on the event, I wish I would have taken before and after photos of the girls because there was such a dramatic difference in them. A visible spark in their eyes as they left knowing a little more of the love available to them in Jesus, the power of forgiveness and the treasure, gifts and beauty they have to offer to the world.
Our last night together one of the mentors came forward to offer an invitation to receive Christ as their savior and we saw 25 girls come forward to make that commitment. I was overjoyed; I wonder what the retreat would have been like had I done it in my time, with my plans, with my words- in my strength? Perhaps, instead, it would have ended up in my very own mess.
Someone said this weekend, “In order to see fruit, real fruit, you have give time for the plant to grow.” I love that.
Girls will continue to meet weekly in small groups with their mentors and we have already had our first event on February 16.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 7:17 am and is filed under Reyes Family Blog (T.E.A.R.S. for Joy), T.E.A.R.S. School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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