Thursday - Day 6

September 10, 2010 Jeanette Cole

Oppression-Restoration-Hope

Hellloooooooo Arizona!!!!! WOW!!!! What a journey this has been for me!!!!!! I wanted to best describe my time and I came up with the three words above!

Oppression- these women come from all types of oppression. Rape, incest and human trafficking, etc…. and yet in everything they do on a daily basis in their independent living skills they seem to work with dignity, integrity, strength and honor.

When they are working on the farm they are singing and smiling even though the labor is manual and difficult, they ignore the sun and the insects and work until their job is finished...

When they sing, they sing about their salvation and the power of a God that rescued them from the oppression they were a part of… they sing like angels from heaven…

When it is their turn to cook, they work with smiles and take instructions from their chef…even though they may be tired from the night before because they were up with a sick baby…they do their job until it is finished…there is no complaining….

When they make their jewelry they mine the clay from the dirt and put it in a kiln that finishes the process. Then for variety of color and design, they take magazine color advertisements and twist them on a toothpick and put a final glaze on to seal the beauty….

When these women serve the teams that come to help they serve with every ounce of hospitality.

Then there are the children---I stopped count at 17. There are babies still in the womb, 2,3,4,5, and 6 months old, one, two three and four years and up. The kids love each other and the older ones seem to look after the younger ones. The children appear fearless and happy…

The moms are learning to be good parents. They are learning what being a good parent looks like. They are learning that it is not the children’s fault, even though their lives have changed, as they knew them, since their children were born. The moms take care of each other and each other’s children.

RESTORATON- In Joel 2:25 I will repay you for the years that the locusts have eaten.

These women and children are being restored one day at a time; through their independent living skills, counseling, hard disciplined and regiment work, Gods word and the heart and love of many people.

Their emotional wounds, scars and pain are slowly being unlocked through the process. Our God promises justice to the oppressed…He promises restoration through obedience and our God loves the single mother.

HOPE- Our God is a God of Hope! Our God is a God of safety! Our God has put hope inside each one of these beautiful daughters of the MOST HIGH!!! OUR KING!!!

“The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To HIM be glory for ever and ever” (2 Timothy 4:18)

They don’t all feel it yet… Some are further along then others. . But what I have seen here is that there is HOPE at Homes of Hope.

Each individual family here has a GOD designed plan for them. A plan for them to prosper. A plan of hope to raise their children independently in a culture that is taught that women are subservient….

So what do I do…It is little old me in a foreign country…. The bible says in Luke 12:48 From everyone that who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

I will pray and ask God to use my assets and abilities to help in the way that HE would want…I would be obedient and read my word and seek Gods face for wisdom and discernment. I will get out of Gods way…..I will LISTEN and see what GOD wants for Homes of Hope!!!!