We must have done alright the first time around, because the following day we were asked to do the same program with the women from La Treinta.
(If you haven’t read part 1, you should do that – it will give you some context.)
BFA #2: The streets of La Treinta
This is a community at the center of Puerto Plata, the best place to go if you’re looking for drugs or sex. We met up with Pastor Paul and heard more about how God called him to move to this community and start the church we’ve been going to each Sunday. We found out that the women weren’t available, many of them were at the market selling things. So we made a quick decision to walk the streets instead.
We didn’t need to walk very far before we found exactly who we needed to talk to. One woman was sitting on the corner, a group stopped to talk to her, and some others walked with me across the street to talk to another woman. We started in Creole – she was willing to engage, but reserved. She acknowledged that she knew God loved her, but you could tell it didn’t reach her heart. We pressed on; through more conversation, she put words to some of that reservation. She wanted to be serious about a decision to turn to God. She had seen too many hypocrites, who turn to God and fall away. If she made that decision, she wanted to be serious about it, and she wasn’t ready yet. I think I was sharing with her that the Holy Spirit empowers our transformation, we can’t do it on our own, but the Holy Spirit in us causes us to reflect more and more the image of God, while Lynneal next to me was asking Holy Spirit where to take the conversation.
I will never forget what happened next. Lynneal looks at her and starts speaking in Spanish. “We came today to do an event with women at the church, but God changed our plans. He wanted us to be here having this conversation with you today. I think we should do the same program for you, right here in the street.” My eyes got wide as I realized what she was saying. I laughed to myself, that’s brilliant! As she caught Elizabeth up to speed and I grabbed my notes, some things shifted; Paul was called across the street and another woman showed up, emphatic that she wanted to do what we were doing. Manuela and Antoinette joined us again, just in time for Manuela to translate for me in Spanish. I summarized the passage, explained that God wants to take them deeper, and invited to consider how they view God and how they think He views them.
The conversation that followed was spirit-led. Between that and the back-and-forth in Spanish and English, I don’t exactly remember what happened. But I do know the conversation wasn’t going in circles, but instead digging deeper and deeper with every question. After some dialog, Elizabeth boldly asked, “Would either of you want to accept Christ today?” Sí. What?! I turned to my left. The woman who had showed up wanting to be a part of what’s going on, the woman whose answer had been “Pronto, pronto…” (soon, soon I will turn to God); she said yes. We took some time to pray and rejoice with her, but I didn’t want to forget the woman we came there for. God wasn’t done with her yet…
I made it a point to redirect. “What about you?” I wanted to make sure she knew she was seen and heard, that she wasn’t forgotten about. The conversation circled back to what she had mentioned earlier. I asked, “If God promises to hold on to you and change you by the power of his Spirit once you surrender your life to him, what else is holding you back?” She felt like she needed to clean herself up, clean her life up before turning to God. Living under a dark shadow of guilt and shame. What an honor to bring truth and light into those dark places. “God invites you to come as you are. Jesus spent most of his time with the sinner, the outcast, not the religious, because they were the ones who needed to hear his message of hope. We can never clean ourselves up enough; He calls us to come to him messy and broken, and he makes us new. Jesus lived the life we could never live. He died in our place so we could receive new life.”
She was quiet, but she was thinking. “Maybe you’re not ready to respond right now, but I want to leave you with this truth. The invitation is wide open. He’s calling you to himself.” I prayed over her before we left. Paul came back to translate to Creole, so she could hear the prayer in her own language. I prayed that God would strip back the fear, tear down the walls of her heart, speak to the lies she’s believed for so long. That he would meet her there, continue to draw her to himself. That she would believe she’s beautiful and loved. Created for a purpose and has a future ahead of her.
Join me in praying that she would surrender to Christ! The Lord is moving out here!!!
But wait, there’s more! This was the first impromptu Beauty for Ashes. Check out the next blog for the last story!
AMAZING!! Crazy how God was moving on both sides of that street!