This has been a hard couple of weeks for a lot of
people! First the flooding here and now
watching the flooding happening in Houston, in Asia.....Uncle!!!! That being said, it’s
been incredible to watch the way people have shown up in the midst of these
tragedies.
Several months ago I read something that challenged me to
look for “But God….” moments. When
things are painful and difficult BUT GOD is doing this! BUT GOD has done
this! Last week I had one of those
moments that brought me to tears.
Over the last year or so, I’ve built a relationship with a
teenage girl in our community. She’s 16
years old. As is a sad tale that is far
too common here, she was sexually abused by someone in a position of power. Since coming here I’ve seen it happen with
students and teachers, young girls and policemen, and of course family
members.
This girl, Jariatu (not her real name) now finds herself
pregnant. The abuse started when she was
just 14 years old. The man, of course,
has run away and is nowhere to be found.
The people she was staying with said she could no longer stay there. Some other missionaries and myself have been
really burdened for what is the best solution for this girl. How can we help???? Peter and I talked about it and were ready to
bring her into our home. But we both kept
wondering if that was really the BEST thing for her. I’m not a Sierra Leonean woman. Being pregnant and giving birth is such a
personal thing and there are so many cultural things that influence perception
and beliefs surrounding it. I’ve delivered quite a few Sierra Leonean babies
and until I stopped, was still finding out new cultural beliefs and practices surrounding birth. So we were ready to take her in….unless a
better solution could be found. We kept
praying.
As we were praying, one of my friends kept thinking of two
Sierra Leonean pastors that we know.
Peter went to go talk to one of them.
He said that before he even finished explaining the situation, the
pastor said, “We will take her in! This is the role of the church. We will take her as our own daughter.” When Peter told me about the conversation, I
just started crying. It’s so true!! This
is the role of the church! To care for
the poor and desperate! We can be their “people” when they don’t have anyone
else!! This is what Jesus would do! We are confident that with this
pastor and his wife, Jariatu will not only be cared for physically, but will be
nurtured and loved and invested in.
The last couple of weeks have been tough. BUT. GOD. God is still working and is using
His Church!! Someone from the States pledged to send some money every month to
take care of her expenses so that it will not be a huge financial burden to
this pastor and his family. This is the
church working together to care for His people……and it’s just beautiful.
It’s still a hard situation.
She’s still a young girl who has suffered abuse and is now pregnant. She
doesn’t have an easy road ahead of her. BUT GOD will not forget her. Of this I
am sure.
