As I was thinking about what some of these people have lived through, I was so happy to have helped bring joy to that woman's day. She was quite old and stooped as she walked, and wasn't with any of the other women who all had young children. My guess is she's past the age that she has much to offer around the house and probably even with the children. To have lived through what I can only imagine and now be in a strange land without the ability to communicate outside of her own people, I think we offered her a chance to live that day. I saw a glimpse into what Jesus meant when he talked about the abundant life he came to offer. I saw grace and beauty extended from our team to this woman. I saw joy and vibrance a not a single worry about what others thought or the language barrier. And when she smiled seeing herself in the mirror, and when she jumped right into the front of our group shot (which is on a friend's camera, sorry!) I saw that she recognized her own worth as a person. That shows exactly how Jesus sees her-as a beautiful woman who has much worth despite what she can offer. After all, what can any of us offer to the Creator and Savior of the universe? What a day to truly praise the Lord-He indeed created it and his love was shared. I'm praying others there felt the love and grace of Jesus in their hearts and will come to know his saving love!
Last week our family had the joy of serving children and some moms and even grandmas at a refugee community in the greater metro. We went with other teams from our office. We were part of a team that held backyard Bible clubs, or block parties as we called them there. The community is a town that is one of a handful around the country where immigrants coming to our country from war-torn regions are relocated. We sang songs, told them about Jesus multiplying the fish and loaves to take care of the crowd and how he wants to take care of them too, had fun with puppets, blew bubbles, painted faces and generally had a great time loving those kids! We met children from a host of countries-some having been here a very short time and others for years. We met a man who has his master's degree in sociology and had went back into a war-torn region to work, only to be deported. He has resettled in this community and was so eager to be able to serve again. We watched children help their siblings. One little boy, not much bigger than my little girl, was wearing his baby brother in a sling and carrying him all along to the activities! A few of the older girls were shy to participate but jumped right in to help paint faces when they saw we had another brush. The children LOVED having their faces painted. Actually they loved having their faces, hands, arms and any free skin painted! And when the children were having just too good of a time, one very old grandmother decided it was her turn. She was very hesitant at first but patting her hand and her cheek and looking expectantly at me. She didn't speak a word of English. I motioned to some of the other girls nearby to see if she wanted a butterfly or flower-the most popular choices for the girls. The lady touched her nose and out-like the cat noses/whiskers we were doing. I asked the older girl who was helping paint faces if she wanted a cat face. She translated and said a butterfly on her hand. So I did it. Then she pointed to her face again. I did a flower. Then she pointed at her nose again. I made motions toward my nose and like I had whiskers. She grunted and her eyes lit up. So I pointed at the little girl hanging out next to me and asked this? She smiled. So I did it. She kept coming back and pointing at any open space on her face. The delight was radiating from her! At one point Ty showed her on his phone what it looked like. A little while later she came back with a mirror and when I finished a tree on her forehead (her request!) she pulled it out of her jacket and beamed when she saw her face. Here you can see some of the many things on her hand and face!
As I was thinking about what some of these people have lived through, I was so happy to have helped bring joy to that woman's day. She was quite old and stooped as she walked, and wasn't with any of the other women who all had young children. My guess is she's past the age that she has much to offer around the house and probably even with the children. To have lived through what I can only imagine and now be in a strange land without the ability to communicate outside of her own people, I think we offered her a chance to live that day. I saw a glimpse into what Jesus meant when he talked about the abundant life he came to offer. I saw grace and beauty extended from our team to this woman. I saw joy and vibrance a not a single worry about what others thought or the language barrier. And when she smiled seeing herself in the mirror, and when she jumped right into the front of our group shot (which is on a friend's camera, sorry!) I saw that she recognized her own worth as a person. That shows exactly how Jesus sees her-as a beautiful woman who has much worth despite what she can offer. After all, what can any of us offer to the Creator and Savior of the universe? What a day to truly praise the Lord-He indeed created it and his love was shared. I'm praying others there felt the love and grace of Jesus in their hearts and will come to know his saving love!
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AuthorsCarolyn & (sometimes) Ty Archives
March 2016
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