Painful Toes

Yesterday I slipped coming down the stairs just as I was getting ready to go for my morning walk.  Ouch!  Something hurt in my foot.  I put my socks and tennis shoes on anyway and went to walk.  About half-way through the walk my little toe on my right foot began to scream in pain.  By time I came home, my toe was swollen and black and blue.  I don't know if I broke it, sprained it or just bruised it.  It is currently taped to the next toe, and moving toward healing.  But this morning I won't go for my walk.  I don't want to feel that pain with every step.  It is such a small injury, but it hurts so much.

This painful toe can often be like unhealed hurts in our lives.  Each step makes us cry out in pain.  Little things happen and it sets us off.  Little reminders come that tell us life is not and has not been perfect.  It comes with pain.   At Freedom Home we deal with this almost daily.

Masha* has been rejected most of her life.  Freedom Home is safety, acceptance and peace to her.  She has a week to finish in her practicum experience and receive her cooking degree. She just isn't getting there to get it done.   We talked about this the other day.  It became like a painful toe--i"f I finish, will I have to leave the home?  Where will I go?"  Anger to others and her daughter spilled out to others.  

A short-term worker in the home reminds Mary* of her mother, so she tries to manipulate and control and guilt the friend who has come to help her.  Daily she tells people she will leave the home.  It's a little pain in her that spills out to others.

What we have come to understand at Freedom Home is that while trafficking was awful and horrific, we are not just working to heal the pain there.   We are working to heal a lifetime of small painful moments that have bubbled up and exploded with the addition of the pain of trafficking.

Please pray for the little things that remind the girls of their pain.  Not that these things would just disappear from their memories, but that God would come in and fill them with peace and His presence.  Pray that they would also be able to mourn about these things to God and receive help from the God of all comfort.  The Bible says, "Blessed are they that mourn for they will be comforted."

Please pray also for a director for Freedom Home.  Our director resigned a few weeks ago.  I know God has this situation in His hand.  Please pray for His leading and direction at this time.