O Daughters of Zion

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be sharing what I'm about to share with you.

This is something that I used to lie about in college and I was even made to feel ashamed of. Back then, I wanted to fit in, to go out with my friends, and to just be loved by someone...

Yet even before I was intimately walking with the Lord, He placed His hand of protection over me, for He knew the plans He had for me.

I was recently asked if we provide contraceptives or teach about safe-sex because "the teens are going to have sex anyways."

That hit me hard, right in the gut.

I knew I had to share my testimony.  I also knew it would rub some people the wrong way, but I'm not ashamed of the gospel nor of the convictions God has placed on my life.  God has called His children the "light of the world" who are not to be placed under a basket, but on a stand to shine before others so that they may see and give glory to the Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:15-16)

So here it goes...

I'm waiting till marriage.

Yes, you heard right, I'm a 27 year old virgin.

I credit God for my singleness as everything in me knows why He hasn't brought my husband to me yet.  He's placed in me a heart to wait on Him and to minister to young girls and women how He desires them above all things.  He has anointed me and set me aside for such a time as this, and though I long terribly for my husband, I will wait all eternity on Him.

The Lord has brought me to a country where men buy women for a night who are desperate to make enough money to feed their children and where girls as young as 11 and 12 years old are becoming pregnant. I heard that it's even a right of passage for young girls to have sex once they have their first period.  It becomes a competition among the youth of who can lose their virginity first... where did this even come from?

Sure, it would be an easy fix to hand out condoms and encourage kids to practice safe-sex, but it would be better for me to have a great millstone fastened around my neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea than causing one of these little ones who believe in Him to sin (Matthew 18:6).  I know sex out of marriage is not God's perfect plan for them.  I can't fix what is already done, but I can encourage these young girls now to pursue the Lord and wait for the man God has for them.

I can hear Jesus calling to each little girl,

"I adjure you, O daughters of [Zion], by the gazelles or the does of their field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases." (Song of Solomon 2:7; 3:5)  

Each one is a precious princess of the Most High King, adorned with pearls and given a holy gift that is not to be thrown at the feet of pigs or given to the dogs (Matthew 7:6).

Sweet Christina (9), one of many girls from Zion who will be in the girls program

Right now the community just knows that I'm single and living alone.  That in itself is an oddity.  But next week, the first week of classes, I'm going to share with each group of girls my decision to wait.  I guarantee you there will be stunned disbelief as such a choice is unheard of here.  (Let's face it, I'm older than many of the mothers in Zion, and according to society, I should have a 12 year old child by now.)

  Our first theme for the class?  "Choices."  How appropriate! At the end of the first 6 weeks, the girls will be given the opportunity to choose to accept Jesus as their Savior.  Please join me in praying that God would give me the authority to speak into the girls lives, that He would capture each one of their hearts for His glory, and that their hearts and minds would begin to be transformed and renewed in their Father's love.

I can't wait to share what we're naming the program, but you'll just have to wait for the next blog on that one! You'll feel the Spirit rush chills all over you.

Man's Best Friend... and a dog

Meet Lucas.

Sounds like "Luka."

Sweet, fun-loving, all-over-the-place, Lucas.

I just met him this week, too.  He already doesn't like to be left alone and he just loves biting at my hands and feet, hoping that I'll play.

So, how did I end up with a dog?  Oh, this is a good one...

I was at worship practice on Wednesday afternoon when Jose Luis came in and told me, "You have a surprise waiting for you at your house... well, in the community center."

A surprise for me? At first, I just thought Mike brought more furniture for me to store at my house (it's an on-going joke because my house has the most storage space since I live alone).  To my question of whether it was another couch or a table, Jose replied, "Well... it does have four legs..."

I thought he was joking at first.  Nope.  There was a dog waiting for me in the community center when I came home. He was curled up under stacks of chairs in the dark. I had no idea how big or small he would be or if he was going to be covered in wounds or dirt.  I prepared myself for the worst.

To my surprise, he was precious.  Bringing home a dog was nowhere on my radar when I woke up that morning, and though admittedly I was hoping to find a reason to say "no,"  I couldn't turn this puppy away.

A prayer of Shayna, Luis, and my heart has been that God's Light would be manifested through our lives as we begin ministering this fall.  With that in mind, as well as a powerful word the Lord spoke to me from the book of Luke recently,  I instantly knew his name would be Lucas, which means "Light Bearer."

But really, this story goes back even further.

Mike and Jose Luis were at the prison on Wednesday and saw Lucas (formerly known as "Scooby Dump" and before that "Boca Negra").  He was trying to play with another dog but was clearly alone. They pursued more information and discovered that he and his siblings were thrown out with the trash not too long ago. The other two dogs were adopted respectively by a carrito driver and another woman, but Lucas hadn't found a home yet.  Upon hearing this, Mike put Lucas in the car.

But really, this story goes even further back.

I had been feeling an urgency in my spirit to pray for protection.  At times, being a single woman living alone in a foreign country can be unsettling;  however, God has spoken promise after promise over me since I returned of how He is my Protector, my Guardian, and my shield, and I know to whom I belong.

Last year the Lord engraved Isaiah 54:4-5 in my heart, and once the Lord gives you a promise, you know it's forever...

"Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.  For your Maker is your Husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth He is called."

Then when I was tempted to fear a month ago with male advances and the community's knowledge of my living situation, God spoke to me again in Genesis 15:1...

"Fear not... I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."

He answered my cries through Psalm 12:5...

"I will place [her] in the safety for which [she] longs." 

I know that I know that I know that God is protecting me and I cling to His promise night and day.

Yet still, there had been a heaviness in my spirit to pray for protection. I can't put my finger on it.  It could be spiritual warfare or just an awareness that though I know God's promise is true, I am also called to be vigilant.

I confessed this feeling to Shayna and Luis on Monday during a prayer meeting and we asked God to send angels to encamp around our property and for rest in His promise of protection.

Then Wednesday happened.

Do I think Lucas entering my life was an accident?  Not at all. I think he was sent to me by God to be my guard, to bring a sort of light into the darkness, and to be my friend.

He's just a pup now but he's learning who feeds him, who walks him, who plays with him, and who cares for him.  It wont be long before he's fully grown (only God knows just how big that'll be..) and singling me out as his to defend and protect.

God never ceases to amaze me in how He answers prayers.  It is HE who provides protection and HE who is my protection.  There is no safer place to be than in the center of God's will.