Girls in Crisis and God's Love

Rape, abuse, rejection, neglect ...

These are the issues -- the deep secrets -- some of the girls at last weekend's conference carried with them. How does one value and respect oneself, when no one has ever respected them?

Into these heavy lives came Gina from FIT Decisions and the Ohio team, full of grace and love. Through discussions about choices, friends, life and love, this team surrounded hurting girls with love and gave them safe place to share their hurts, all the while pointing them to the One who values them most.

The discussions were punctuated by clever crafts, kickboxing, and classes in self defense. And Gina shared heartwrenching stories from her own life, which connected her intimately with these these hurting girls.

On Saturday, at lunch, Tunde, who grew up in the orphanage and holds a rather loud and abrasive exterior, called Russ and I over. We first met Tunde ten years ago at the Miskolc orphanage when she was 14. When she called us over she was speaking for the three older girls who came from Miskolc. She burst into tears, saying, "It means so much to us that you would think to have us come to such a special conference. We do not have families. You are all we have. And we want you to know how much we appreciate you caring about us." We told her how much we love them and how special they are to us and how proud we are of the way they are making it in life. And we prayed with them. It was a precious moment.

One of the team members from Ohio was a hair dresser, and she had stayed up doing hair until about 3am Sunday morning. One orphanage girl asked her to give her a full hair cut -- whatever she thought would look good. A lot of hair came off. And when she went to look in the mirror she burst into tears. The Americans were concerned that she hated the haircut. But then the girl explained that she was crying because she loved it and she felt so special because of all that they were investing in her this weekend.

When we put the orphanage girls on the bus to head back. Our whole group stood beside the bus doing "the wave" and blowing kisses and making an all around American spectacle of ourselves. The girls on the bus laughed hysterically and waved back. They knew we valued them, and that God values them too.

Two of the orphanage girls appear to have made steps toward Christ this weekend -- only Christ knows their hearts for sure. Please continue to pray for them as they return to their lives and situations where they do not feel as loved or valued.