Today is Friday and it starts my last weekend here at the House. Can you believe it? It amazes me that before I actually got here thinking about how long I would be here would physically make me sick to my stomach. Thirteen weeks is a really long time, but I am in my final week and I can't believe it has gone so fast! It blows my mind that this time next week I will be in a car with my mom on my way back to Groves for a week, then back to my house in Nacogdoches in two weeks!!
I've been thinking a lot about when people ask me, "Nina, what did you learn this summer?" or "Nina, tell me about your summer." what will I say? I had the privilege of having lunch with a friend towards the beginning of the summer right after he returned from Africa and he told me to start praying for my return back home NOW. Pray that God will continue to challenge me, and that He will reveal to me what He has taught me this summer. So, I started praying early June for this time that I am going through now. Praying that He will begin to show me what things He has taught me through this very unique experience. If I think about it to hard I tear up about leaving. I have met some of the most incredible women and families here at the House. Not to mention I love my supervisor. God definitely knew what He was doing when He placed me here.
God has really been teaching me a lot about myself this summer. He has stretched me and broken me on numerous occasions. He has taught me a lot about being a Godly woman. Not only have I learned to cook, clean, and fold fitted sheets, but He is teaching me about femininity. Letting Ephesians 5 turned my world upside down (in a wonderful way). He has shown me that I have a strength that I had no idea even existed. I have a rock and a solid foundation on Christ, and with Him I can make it. (This is a huge step for me). I am finally (sadly after 11 years of being a Christian) I am learning to fully TRUST God. Not just say I do, but really do this. If you know me, you probably know that this is something that I have always had a problem with whether people or God. I am finally starting to trust that He will work things out for my good. He will not leave me or forsake me. I will never do anything alone. He is God and and He is good. I am learning to live in the day, and not in the future. Tomorrow will take care of itself. I know that I am just skimming the surface of what He is just beginning to reveal to me. Weirdly I am so excited to see what He holds for my future.
I will continue to post what God is showing me for the next couple of weeks when I get home. That is the true test of my faith. What happens when I am not surrounded by these incredible people all day long? Will I choose to continue to live my life the way God intended it to be, or will I go back to the negative/complaining Nina that I was before I got here? That is the true test. There is so much more I would like to write now, but I don't have very much time :(.
I do want to share a story and prayer request with you today. On Tuesday night, I received a phone call at the house about 5 pm and it was sisters that were just leaving Arkansas to pick up their dad from prison. They told me that they would be here about midnight, and asked if I would stay up and let them stay here. I thought about it for a little bit because I know that we are suppose to lock up at 11pm, but I really wanted to wait. So I called them back and said to come on over! I waited, and waited and finally about 12:30 they pulled up. They had been driving all day and they were exhausted. They were sisters, like I stated before, and they where ready to go to bed! I checked them in and then showed them to their room. While walking the short distance they started to ask me questions about the House, and why we do what we do. I began to share with them a little bit about the ministry here at the House, and they invited me into their room to sit and talk a while. I was thrilled (and tired but who cares!!). I sat down on one of the beds and they began to share their struggle with me. They were picking up their dad whom they've NEVER met. They drove 8 hours to pick up a man from prison they've never met. They began to tell me that he was serving a life sentence for aggravated bank robbery, and he was being paroled. On account that they've never met him, they thought them reaching out to him would give him a reason to stay clean and out of prison. They began to share about how he escaped from prison twice, and how he has been in prison their entire lifetimes. He went into prison right after they were born. They shared with me their struggle they had during their childhood growing up without a present father, and knowing that their actual father was in prison. They told me about the process of them reaching out to him, and them forgiving him.
When we finished talking, I went back to my room and cried. What a beautifuly ugly story, right? These two women in their 30s laying the past aside to move forward. They have forgiven a man in their lives that has done nothing for them in their lifetime. They understand that as long as he makes it out in the free world, he will be on parole til the day he dies, and if he messes one thing up- he is straight back to prison. God brought redemption in their lives. He showed them what real and true love really is. They shared with me about how God taught the sisters at different time what love truely is, and that is when they reached out to their fathers.
Pray for this family. Girls in their early 30s, father in his 50s. Pray that God gives them the strength to move forward as a family. Pray that the girls to wake up everyday and choose to forgive and love despite the situations. Pray that the father can stay clean and out of trouble.Pray for sanity for the family over the next 14 months where the father will be under house arrest. Pray for opportunities that the girls can share Christ with him. Pray for this newly reunited family. God is good, and can change lives. Pray in faith that He will do this in this family.
