Someone asked Bonita and I recently what some of our coping mechanisms for not getting emotionally overwhelmed are. We both said that one thing that helps is spending time with the girls at Beginnings. They're so full of joy and it just brings me so much hope to remember the stories of the girls living in the house and to see how God has freed them. They are such beautiful, strong, smart, funny women and I love that they've become like family to me. And that's also kind of confirming my suspicions that I might be part Asian. I mean seriously, just look at the facts. So I have American parents and an American brother and 2 American sisters, a Korean sister (Sohee. She's amazing. She's lived with us for about a year and a half now and is part of the family. She's wonderful :) Love you Sohee!) and now I have 13 Thai sisters! And I've come to the conclusion that that makes me at least a little bit Asian.
Anyway, the Beginnings girls are just great and at the end of a bad day it's always a good idea to get around them. They always have their silly ways of making me laugh without even trying. For instance... the other night several of the girls ended up in my room and I started painting some of their nails and the room ended up turning into "Megan Salon" (in case you were wondering, Megan Salon is free, unless someone happens to do a good King Kong impression, in which case it's either 200 baht or the King Kong impression). This was all fun and games but only got better when an impromptu dance party broke out. We watched and "learned" the Single Ladies and Waka Waka dances, just to name a few. And let me just tell you, these girls have got moves. For real.
But besides just being able to laugh with them, it's been amazing to see how God has not only brought them to a place where they experience their own healing, but that He is also using them to show Himself to other people. It reminds me of part of the Brennan Manning book, The Furious Longing of God, when he says, "Healing becomes the opportunity to pass on to another human being what I have received from the Lord Jesus; namely His unconditional acceptance of me as I am, not as I should be.”
I was out doing outreach with one of our girls from the house this week and she was talking to me about her (terrible) story before she came to Beginnings and how God is able to use that to help the girls in the bars listen to her. She said that if she hadn't been where they are, they would just tell her that she doesn't understand. But, because she's been there she is able to tell them that she does understand and that she's been where they are and that there is a way out. It was so powerful to hear her talk about her story in that way and to hear that she sees how God is able to use that. Basically, she's my hero.
They always seem to be up to something. There's been some really bad flooding going on in Northern Thailand. Last week Ann sat the girls down and told them that 100 baht could provide a disaster relief package for the victims of the flooding. ALL of the girls donated from the little that they have to provide these packages for the people affected by the floods. I loved getting to see them in that position. It was a beautiful picture to me of God's Kingdom. He has brought healing to them in a way that allows them to be able to take what they've been blessed with and use that to provide for others in their time of need. They have such beautiful hearts and were all so excited to be able to help. They went out and bought the items they needed to put in the bags and together we filled all of the bags that they would take the next day to Kho Kred Nonthaburi Island. Two of the girls on leadership went and only four of the girls from Beginnings were able to go with them to deliver the bags. All of them wanted to go so badly that they did a "lucky draw" to decide who would go, and the next day they went and delivered the packages to the people on the island.
0 comments:
Post a Comment