The following post just barely scratches the surface of all I want and need to share after my week in Mexico. I must get something out there, but there is SO much more brewing in my heart and mind, and hopefully will be expressed and shared in future posts.
Love,
Mama Bear
* * *
Bestow Dignity.
The Holy Spirit whispered these two words into my heart on our very first morning in Vicente Guerrero. We were on a tour of the Foundation campus and Carmen, the guest relations coordinator for FFHM, was sharing stories of the ministry itself as well as some of the individual children who have lived at the orphanage during its many years of operation. Carmen did not do us a favor by sparing the details of their stories. We heard heart-breaking stories of gruesome abuse and neglect inflicted on the powerless before they found their way to safety at the orphanage. Carmen said, “We bring them in and we give them dignity: a bed of their own, a bathroom, a home, clean clothes and food, an education, and a safe place to grow up.”
Something about that word dignity
struck a very strong cord in my heart.
For the remainder of the tour and of our week, the
Lord continued to draw my attention back to those two words: Bestow
Dignity. When we visited Rancho de
Cristo, a recovery ranch for men, we heard stories of men who, by the power of
the Word of God, came out of drug dealing, gangs, addictions, and more. By the power of God in the lives of these
men, they leave the Rancho no longer addicts, but Oaks of Righteousness, men
whose lives, families, and futures are transformed.
When we visited children and families in various
communities around the Foundation campus, we saw example after example of how
God is using the outreach staff and volunteers to bestow dignity: providing
breakfast to school children so they are better prepared to learn; teaching
adults to read and write in their own language, to name just two.
The campus-based ministries are also all examples of
these two words in action:
- a learning center for special-needs children, where they learn that they ARE worthwhile individuals with gifts they can develop and exercise for the good of their community
- a day-care and preschool for children of single working moms, where the kids learn that they are worth loving, caring for, and teaching and their moms are daily encouraged that their children are valuable as much more than another pair of hands in the strawberry fields
- providing customized wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs to the lame, some of whom have never even seen the light outside their huts for lack of mobility, men and women who can now work because they can finally get around
- providing meals for those in need through the ministry of the soup kitchen, which also puts together food baskets for the families who visit
- providing medical, dental, and optical care through the services of the clinic
- providing children an excellent education, including English as a second language and training in job-skills, all embedded in a curriculum of Grace: God made you, He loves you, and that makes you worthy of value and respect
- rescuing children from abuse, neglect, prostitution, begging, back-breaking field labor, illiteracy, gangs, hunger
- providing adult diapers for those suffering from incontinence, helping these men and women to keep clean so they can participate in community without the shame of body odor, skin abrasions, and infection.
- providing household goods and clothing for those in need, as well as to the children, staff, and families who live and work at the Foundation campus.
- sharing their water resources when possible to put out fires in the community
This lesson is not one that I even had an inkling that
I needed to learn, but oh how I needed to learn it! As the week progressed and we continued to
work alongside the people and to witness Kingdom work being done, the Spirit
showed me biblical examples of God bestowing dignity on people, from the Old
Testament and New. So many of Jesus’
miracles directly bestowed dignity on someone who had been marginalized, abused,
neglected, or rejected by society: the woman at the well, the woman caught in
adultery, the woman with the bleeding disease, lepers, the blind, the
possessed, the lame, men, women, and children, Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans. Because of Jesus’ work in their lives, these
recipients of His mercy could re-enter society with dignity, no longer bearing
the weight and the shame of disfiguring diseases or sinful pasts.
Every time the Spirit showed me another story of
bestowing dignity, my breath caught in wonder.
It all came together in the most beautiful way on our last day, as we
toured Dorothy’s House, a safe-house and recovery home for abused women and
their children. As we wrapped up our
tour and our week, the Spirit whispered to my heart, “Go and do likewise.” These are the words Jesus said to His
disciples after washing their feet. He
took the form of the lowest servant and washed His disciples’ dirty feet,
bestowing on them the dignity both of clean feet and of putting Himself in a
position of servant to them. And after
lowering Himself thus to elevate them,
He commanded them, “Go and do likewise.”
The GOSPEL itself exploded for me with these two
words: Bestow dignity. I have very
little idea how I am to apply this in my present circumstances as a wife and
mom, but I want to try. I have some
ideas how I can apply it in my interactions with the community outside of my
home, but I know that God is far from done with me in this lesson. I know that, as a result of my time in the
Baja, my understanding of Jesus and His work on the cross will never, ever be
the same. And I hope that how I see
people, especially those most neglected, marginalized, and rejected by culture,
will also be forever changed.
I never, ever want to forget this lesson. If my husband would allow it, I might even
consider getting these words tattooed on my wrist, as a permanent reminder and
inspiration. As a Christian, I have no
doubt what my role in this world is: to be like Jesus and bestow upon others
the dignity which He bestowed upon me when He died on the cross for my sins and
gave me new life in His Name.
No comments:
Post a Comment