Preservation

This morning the text of the message came from Psalm 121.  I take a Romanian/English parallel Bible to church with me and after reading the Romanian with the congregation, I read the Scripture in English.

I read words so very familiar, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills..." Beautiful words.  On I read to verse seven. 
I paused. 
I stopped. 
I read again. 
I thought. 
The message from the front didn't penetrate my mind. They were good words, but I couldn't hear.  I could only hear verse seven.

"The Lord shall preserve you from all evil.  He shall preserve your soul."  

And I thought of the sweet, beautiful girl sitting next to me, Essie.  How did God preserve her life?  She believed in Him as a small child.  She walked with Him.  Her life remained pure before Him.   And then a trusted friend kidnapped her and sold her abroad.   Forced to use drugs and prostitute herself, she was robbed of every dream she had in life. 

When she escaped, the TV news broadcast her story and everyone in her village and church knew where she had been and what she had done. They all became her judge.  No longer Essie, she became the woman wearing the scarlet "A". 

Her hopes and dreams were gone.

So as I read this, I pondered her story.  God in His still, small voice spoke to me.  He did preserve her from the evil.  He preserved her soul. 

I'm not a scholar of Greek, and I won't debate Bible translations.   But these words, as they were translated, screamed at me this morning.    

"God shall preserve you from all evil.  He shall preserve your soul."  There remained a promise for her in these verses.  They did not mock her pain.  They gave hope to her pain. 

I moved closer to Essie and shared with her the words God was speaking to me. 

I had no answer for why this happened in her life.  I would not say that God allowed this as the plan for her life.

BUT I can know that God preserved her. 

Right now everyone in Moldova is busy preserving.  We preserve vegetables and fruit, which are in abundance now, to eat in the winter.  If we simply set them on a storage shelf, they'd be rotten in a week, but preserved, their goodness will last until next summer when new vegetables grow again.

The Lord spoke the same for Essie.  Although forced into a very dark place, seeming so far from God, He preserved her life from the evil.  He preserved her soul.   I do not understand why this happened to her, but I do know that God was there, walking with her, preserving who she is.  She is not rotten or bitter.  Of course, she is filled with sadness and hopelessness, but she is still so incredibly sweet. 

When she came into the home, I immediately saw the difference in her.   Every other girl comes in hard and cold.  She came in soft and warm.  She appeared hurt and sad, but the light of who she is still shone through.  She had a sweetness I had not seen in new resident. 

God preserved her soul. 

I like this translation because some translations say that God will keep us from evil.  Or it seems that they God is a celestial guard who stops everything bad in our lives.  When we believe this, we must question why He didn't keep Essie.  Did He fail? 

No, the world is full of evil, and she is a victim of sex-trafficking.  BUT God preserved her.  Her soul is still His.  I see hope in these words.  She never turned from Him, and He never turned from her. 

Please pray for Essie this week. 

She is not sure that God still wants her. 
She is not sure she is worthy of Him.
She carries heavy guilt for a crime she did not commit.  

Pray that she can believe that He never left her side. 
Pray that she will know that He will give her a crown beauty for the ashes in her life.
Pray that she will understand that she is still an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.  
Pray that she will understand that God has preserved her and that He will heal her pain and make her new once again. 

Broken Hearts

I have three daughters biologically.  I have several more by virtue of Freedom Home. 

Ali* began first to call me mama.  The other girls at the home joined her.  Most have not had a mama in a long time.  Most haven't known a good mama.  Ali's mama died when she was around ten years old.

Ali has had a very hard journey.   We see times of great victory and times of such defeat.   The past few weeks she has worked to make life horrible for every person in the home--residents and staff.   She made it known to a few people that she wanted to be so bad that Andy and I would kick her out of the home.

So today we sat to talk.  Again.  It went no where. 

I told her I would not kick her out, but that she had a choice to make.  She would either began to work on things like schooling, parenting, and living or she would make the choice herself to move out.  Not doing what she needs to do is making the choice.  

After the conversation with her and a bit of time hugging on all the rest of the girls in the home, I came home.  Tonight I'm weighted with a burden to pray for her.  I talked with our director, who did have another conversation with Ali after I left, and it went well. 

But I'm still burdened for her. 

She can't trust.
She is bound by fear.
She needs God to deliver her from her past.
She needs to totally break free from a negative relationship.

I have friends who have children who are adults and have walked away from God. The pain in the lives of my friends is intense.  They pray.  They weep.  They ask God to bring their child back. 

Tonight I'm weeping for the one who called me Mama, my "daughter".  I love her intensely.  I love her because Christ loves her. 

I love her because she is worthy of love, no matter her actions.
I love her because she is a child of God, made in His image. 


He longs for relationship with her. 
He longs to heal her hurt. 
He longs to help her trust.

Will you pray for her tonight and this weekend?  Will you pray that God will help her start anew and that we will see radical change in her life and being?

There is a song with a line that says, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours."  Easy to sing these words.  Hard to live them.

Tonight my heart is broken for Ali.

Sweet Dreams

Today I had the privilege of sitting with a newer resident in the home, Mary, and hearing her story.   Her story came out in the midst of her pain.  Last Thursday she surrendered her life to Christ and then the nightmares began each night.

She shared how these nightmares are really not new, but have come each time she's wanted to change her life for the better.

When I talked to her about the evils of trafficking, she stopped me saying, "Trafficking isn't the only evil that has happened in my life.  In fact, it may not even be the worst.  My whole life has been ruled by evil people."  Wow!  This is a life I cannot even imagine.

She thought that maybe if she could just be better, she could change things in her life.  So I began to talk to her about people in the Bible who came to Christ in their sinful states, and Christ took them just as they came to him.

What shocked me was that she knew everyone of these stories.  Years ago, when she was in an orphanage, she had been given a Bible.  She knew the Bible incredibly well.

And I realized that although her life has been filled with so many bad things, God has been right there with her.  Theologically, I don't really understand this.  I don't understand how someone can be mistreated for so much of their lives, how they can be raped, how they can be trafficked.  I don't understand how the evil in this world can take them there, but I know we serve a God who is so amazing, and he cares for them in each of these places.

I understood that God has been holding Mary for so many years and that now she has the chance to hear of him and to understand his love for her, walked out in the lives of the staff at the Home.

Please pray for Mary.  Pray that she will have sweet dreams.  Pray that Christ will set her free from all the bondage of the past.  She wants so much to be free.  We prayed for her to be free.  Please join me in praying for her tonight and all this week.  Pray that God would give her sweet, sweet rest, without any nightmares.

Thanks for believing with me for her sweet dreams.

Neighbors

This week the neighbors on both sides of the home have begun complaining about one thing after another. They both have always made complaints and usually they have some validity. We have tried to comply.

The neighbor to the right didn't like our dog, Jack. So we built the fence higher to give him the extra protection from the dog jumping into his yard.

But this week he called the police saying the women in the home were partying and drunk at 2 a.m. They were all sleeping, but how do we prove that since the police didn't come until the next day? Show them the trash that is empty of alcohol bottles?

Our office is on the left side of the home and it is extremely hot in there so this week we installed a small air conditioning unit. The neighbor on that side complained that it made too much noise (these are not the old noisy type of air units!). There is no more noise from this than a fan would give.

Please pray for us for favor with the neighbors. We know we just need to keep loving them and offering them kindness.

On another note--concerning the training that we had at the end of July with Rebecca. The training went very well. Thanks so much for your prayers. One thing we are finding as a staff is that God wants to work as much on our lives as the lives of the women in the home. Many of the staff need to find real healing through Christ to be able to bring the healing to the lives of the residents. So continue to pray that God will take what we've learned and make it go deep into our lives so that we can then offer healing to those in the home.

Rescue Arts

It is so important for the women who come into our home to find a place of healing in their lives. There are many avenues to have that happen. It doesn't just happen automatically because they come into the home, but happens because they are led there. We are in the process of helping the staff understand how to lead the women to healing.

Often that healing has to start in the lives of the staff. They have to be released from the things holding them back to be able to bring healing to the lives of others.

My friend Rebecca is here this week and the next two days she will be doing a training with the Freedom Home staff on therapy through the arts. Pray for an anointing on Rebecca as she teaches.

Please pray for that this training will sink deep into the lives of the staff here. Pray that they will find healing from the pain of the past in their lives so that they can help to bring healing into the lives of the women in the home.

There are also a few women who will be there who are trying to figure out if they want to be involved in this ministry at a great level. Please pray that God will call those that need to be called to this ministry.

Holding up Your arms

Yesterday I listened to a sermon podcast by Pastor Rod Loy at North Little Rock First (www.firstnlr.com). He talked about the Bible story where Joshua, the young man, is fighting, and Moses, the old man, is praying with his contemporaries holding up his arms. When Moses' arms are up, they are winning the battle. When the arms are down, they are losing the battle.

The idea behind this sermon was not about praying for missionaries, although that would have been awesome! It was about praying for our young people and our children in our churches--an incredible application.

But, as I listened to the story of Joshua and Moses, I thought about those of you who read my blog and pray for the work we are doing.

We are here and we are able to do what we do because of those who come behind us in prayer and finances. Your arms "stay up" in prayer for the women and staff of Freedom Home.

We don't have an major donor committing to $10,000 a month. But we have people who give $50 a month. We have churches wanting to do 5K runs with the entry fees going to our work. We have churches and individuals that commit to a bit at a time.

We don't have a major platform to get the word out. I don't have a department to do the creative websites, brochures, and videos.

But I have a blog, and we have people committed to pray.

Yesterday we celebrated Naomi's* birthday. She turned 23. I'm not sure the last time anyone celebrated her just being alive. She showed no emotion at the party, except one small smile. All her emotion is dead, except the sadness that shows from her eyes each day.

I pray for Naomi that a year from now, we will see joy and peace on her face. That next year, as we celebrate her life, we will see that Christ is transforming her into someone new.

Please pray also for her 11 month old daughter, Lexie. The baby has been malnourished and has rickets. We already see more color in her little cheeks, but we pray for God's complete healing for her small body and bones.

Thanks for coming alongside the staff, the women and myself at Freedom Home with your prayers.

Taking the Land Part Two

There is an adage in church work that sometimes you have to lose some to gain more. I believe that has been true at Freedom Home. I'm learning that as we take the land, sometimes we have to let some things go.

I'd like to believe that every woman who comes to us will be changed, but this doesn't happen. Some cannot break the chains holding them in bondage. A few weeks ago one woman had planned and worked for weeks to leave the home. She was getting a "job" with those that formerly trafficked her. She did everything she needed to do. And then they wouldn't take her.

We practiced intervention in her life for four hours a few days after she had been told that she couldn't go work at this restaurant (which fronts the trafficking). All that we said that day fell to deaf ears and late in the afternoon we had to force her to leave the home.

That may be shocking to some reading this, but she was so unstable. Workers have already quit because of the abuse she threw on them daily. She could be totally up and then fall to the lowest depths. The depths brought a meanness of character that hurt all around her. So finally she was told she must either live within the rules of the home or leave.

She left.

Since the day she left we have taken in three women. Two last week. One this week. We are nearly to capacity. One had been in the works for the past two or three months, but one thing after another delayed her entrance to the home.

I really believe the home wasn't safe for these very vulnerable ones who have come these past two weeks. The departure of the one, has made the home safe again and filled with peace.

This is a hard thing.

Please pray for the new women. Pray for the one we took a few days ago who is extremely vulnerable. She needs healing in body, mind and spirit.

One resident who came to us a few months ago, came from a good family. Her perpetrator was caught and put in prison. Her parents thought that it would be safe for her to come home a few weeks ago, and she went. This week the man bought himself out of jail and the safety of her home is crushed. She comes back to us today.

Now more than ever, I ask you to pray for safety for the home, the workers, the residents, the staff and their families. It is a time when God is going to do good things in the lives of these women. We ask God's hand of protection, healing and safety on us in these days.

We know that God has gone before us in every step of the way in establishing this ministry to Victims of Trafficking. Please pray that God continues to guide us as we take the land.

One other prayer request today is that our counselor became our director last September, and we desperately need a Christian counselor. We have two wonderful young Christian women who have been doing part-time volunteer work at the home this summer as counselors. We'd love if one of them would feel God's calling to commit to the work full-time.

Freedom Home

We have given a new name to the Project Rescue home in Moldova.

We are now Freedom Home.

Why the new name? Moldova is a very small country, and there are already several Home of Hopes, Hope Houses and other ministries with names very close. We needed to set ourselves apart.

So we began to pray about it, asking God to give us something that was right for us in this place.

An issue begin to emerge (or had always been there, but was staring us in the face at this point). Women would come to the house and after about a month, they would begin to complain saying that life here was prison because they couldn't go where they wanted, with whomever they wanted, and do whatever they wanted.

They didn't understand true freedom.

We began to talk to them about the truth of Scripture, "So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed." (John 8:36) Still the concept remained elusive.

What we want and envision in the lives of the women is so much more than hope. We want them to have hope, but more than this, we want them to have freedom.

Freedom that brings joy.
Freedom that brings peace.
Freedom that brings hope.
Freedom that brings rest.

We want them to understand that true freedom is not physical. It is not where they are and what they can do, but true freedom comes when Christ Jesus sets them free from the pain of the past.

So with the new name we have an opportunity to begin talking about freedom to them as soon as they enter. We can talk to them about freedom in Christ and help them to understand why we have rules in the home. We can talk to them that we exist not just for a home for a time for them, but so that they can find true freedom for life.

Will you pray that the women of Freedom Home will find true freedom in their lives?

I'm often asked how we find the women who are in our home. We have networked and built relationships with several different organizations that deal with the legal aspects of women who are trafficked. They are the agencies that the government calls when a trafficked woman needs to be repatriated or stand trial against a trafficker. These agencies know the women need further help. They then call us.

This week two different agencies called us. Two different women. Two different backgrounds. Both trafficked to Russia. Both needing healing in their lives. Both need to find a new path to new beginnings.

I've been especially moved in the last day concerning the girl that came into the home on Thursday. She's 21, and she's from a Christian home. The family is large, and she went to Russia looking for work. She went last fall and had legitimate work for three months. This time when she returned, she was forced into prostitution.

We've dealt with a lot of girls who have had baggage from the time they were born. Now we have a girl who was raised in a loving Christian home and her life also took a terrible turn.

Please pray for Naomi. I really don't know her background at this point. I do know that she came to the home with a beautiful 10 month old daughter. Pray that she finds peace, safety and healing.

Pray also for Emily. She comes in knowing who God is, but is most likely questioning God in her life at this point. Pray for God's healing and peace in her life.

Taking the Land

It has been more than a month since I last blogged. About the time of the last post, one of the girls in the home (the one who can read English and use a computer) went to an internet cafe', found our website and felt angry that I posted about the Home. So I decided to just stop posting for a time. This week I felt it time to start again.

This week all the woman and children of the home and a few workers are at a family camp sponsored by the church our Social Worker's church. Pray for God to speak to each of them in a special way this week.

Since I last wrote Leah* decided to give up her baby. A wonderful Christian family has taken the baby, and are moving toward adoption. Please pray for that process. It is not something people want to touch here--something I don't understand. It seems easier to leave a child at an orphanage than to legally adopt a baby. But we know God's hand is in this. I could not be more happy with the home the baby has gone to.

Leah* also decided to leave the home. Please pray that the truth of God would continue to speak into her life.

Our Social Worker did lose her pregnancy. Please pray for her at this time. I know it is a huge loss. She is going on, but she needs God's peace and grace for this time.

This week I am reading from the book of Joshua. The Israelites crossed the Jordan and began to take the land God had promised them. Why didn't God just give it to them? What was the deal with that? Couldn't He just have wiped out the nations before them?

Instead of making it easy, God starts by telling them to circumcise all the males who had not been circumcised in the time they wandered the dessert. Oh the pain and agony that went on those days!

Then they go to take Jericho and have to walk around the city day after day. Finally after seven days they shout and the walls come down and they go in and conquer the city. Then they go to battle Ai and are soundly defeated because one person sinned. The story goes on like this. Every new town, every city, every nation is a fight. Nothing is easy.

The same is true in our lives. I always want God to make things easy for once. I get tired of the struggles, tired of the battles of life. But somehow it is precisely those things that make me become the person that God wants me to be. I have to face the struggles, the battles, and God makes me into the person He can use.

Since the Home of Hope opened, it seems we fight one battle after another. I just want things to get easy. I want it to soar. I want everything in place. I want to see results and have fun. I want to see women who are victoriously delivered and radically changed, but it just doesn't happen that way.

The work continues to be a struggle. Something within me wants to believe that obedience in starting the work and opening the home is "taking the land". But that is only the beginning. In the process of taking this land, I see God making me into the person He wants me to be. I see him working in the lives of the staff, healing their wounds from the past, giving them joy and unconditional love, teaching them about forgiveness. None of it is easy. We have to commit ourselves to pressing on. And in that process of change God also begins to heal the women.

And it is all for His glory.

Thanks for continuing to pray.

I returned last night from Project Rescue meetings in India. Having time last week with others who are doing the same type of work felt so encouraging. We realize that many of our struggles are the same.

I came home to new struggles. A week and a half ago we welcomed a new baby into the home. Leah's* excitement at this new life was evident. Today she didn't want anything to do with the baby. Others are caring for this precious little girl now.

Please pray for us today. I do not simply want to pray that Leah* will change her mind. Last week she found joy in the child. This week she despises her. It could simply be post-partum depression, but it could also be issues from being a woman trafficked and re-trafficked. Leah needs healing from the deep scares of the past. Right now she is not ready to be a mother. Right now she may even be dangerous to the baby, but we also want the right decision to be made.

When I came in this morning, she told me that she wants us to find a Christian home, parents who can raise her child. She wants to sign away all rights to the baby. She may go back and forth on this. I don't know.

What we want most for this small child is that she can be raised and loved in a safe environment. Please pray for wisdom for the staff and that we can find the right legal advice in this situation.

Pray also for our Social Worker at the home. She is eleven weeks pregnant and the baby is not growing. The doctors have advised different things for her. Please pray that God would give her and her husband wisdom to know what to do. Please pray that God would give them peace in the midst of this storm in their lives.

A few weeks ago I decided I would become a true blogger, posting regularly. And then we had a week of guests and all that went out the window. Oh, well. I continue on.

The past few weeks have been full of ups and downs. We had a small group of women who came in and taught scrapbooking, card making and jewelry making. They ministered to the women in the home showing them amazing love. And everyone was exhausted after they left.

We've had several of the children and moms sick these past few weeks, so there have been visits to the doctors, some staying in the hospital and some staying home to get well. Please pray for complete health and healing for all.

Our newest member of the Home was born last night--little Imanuela. We rejoice in a safe delivery.

Please pray for healing for a new girl that has come to our home, Diane. I can't give details of her pain, but she needs God to heal her emotions.

An update on Amy is that she is staying in the home. Please continue to pray for her. She needs to understand that God will take care of her, be her father and her healer.

Amy's decision

A few weeks ago I wrote of the wonderful birthday party we had for Amy*. This past weekend Amy wanted to go visit an aunt in her home village and we allowed her. She was supposed to be back on Saturday evening, but returned on Tuesday by noon.

She came back wanting to get married.

Her cousin had convinced her that a certain man was right for her.

She met him for an hour on Saturday.

Yes, my mind screams "re-trafficking".

Amy was sold first by her mother for labor trafficking. She was forced to beg daily on the streets of Moscow. When she didn't bring enough rubles back in the evening, her holders raped her. She has a beautiful two year old daughter from one of those rapes.

Amy is attending cooking school and learning to cook, but she isn't the brightest girl in the home. It is obvious that years of physical abuse as a child took its toll on her learning capacity.

And so she is still vulnerable to the words of a cousin claiming to have her best interest in mind.

We know that God says, "I plan to prosper you, not to harm you. I plan to give you a hope and a future."

Please pray intently for Amy in the next few days and weeks. We know that she can learn to cook. We hope to place her with a church family in a village when she leaves the home. But right now, she doesn't see how life can be any better. She doesn't have hope. She isn't sure she wants to parent her daughter.

Please pray that the bondage would be broken in her life. Pray that God will heal her emotions. Pray that he will give her the love and ability to parent her sweet little girl.

Pray that the cousin would stop calling and that Amy will have the ability to refuse the offers.

And once again, pray for Andy & I and pray for our staff as we try to talk to her about hope and good decision making.

Team work

I just arrived home from a day at the Home of Hope. Tuesday is always staff meeting. What a great team of women God has blessed us with to work with the women who come into our home!

After staff meeting I learned the story of one of our women in the home. I don't often ask, but today I needed some details. The story that unfolded was still sketchy. Leah* worked at a cafe. The cafe is known to be a place the recruits girls to waitress here and then finds them "jobs" abroad. Leah was 17 and a good looking man brought her flowers, pledged his love and got her false documents. They went to Dubai.

Two months later she came back--deported.

A few months after that she was trafficked again, different man, same place.

And then again she was trafficked. This time to a different country. This time by a woman she knew.

And we wonder why would a woman go back knowing what had happened the first time? A simple answer is that there was nothing for her to live for here. A bigger answer has to do with pain and shame.

Leah* has severe psychological problems as do most of the women in our home. And it's no wonder.

The part of the story we have not yet truly heard is the abuse, the pain, the torture. We know it was there, but it remains buried deep inside. At times it comes out in explosive unexplained behavior. We wonder why they can't just be normal.

Until God heals them, they can't.

And this is why I'm so grateful for the team we have. They are wonderful. They live and work among the women, stopping fights, getting yelled at, continuing to show love. They teach lessons. They cook together. They help with their children. But it is never easy.

Almost weekly I tell them that this is God's work. We don't have it all figured out, but God is showing us bit by bit how to do this work. And right now we are God's hand extended to the women in our home, to help bring healing to their broken, shattered lives.

Please remember our staff in prayer--the director, the social worker, the night staff, the cook, the administrator, the psychologist. Pray that God fills them with wisdom and grace and peace and truth. Pray that God helps them to be His hands of healing.

Things that pull

Working with Victims of Trafficking creates a working culture where we feel like there are days we are changing lives and days when we are making no progress at all. It seems we make progress with a woman and then something pulls her back.

A boyfriend she has left calls again.
An aunt finds her someone to marry.
A grandma thinks she'd be better off at in her village, but she has no ability to withstand anything or anyone.
An untamed heart thinks freedom comes with no rules.

We deal with these issues almost daily. And we press on.

But there are days when everyone is discouraged. How can we work another day, bringing hope and life, but seeing little progress.

And we start a new day once again.

Today, please pray for our workers. Pray for our director. Pray that they all can see the hope and that they can see what God will do in the lives of these women, even when they cannot see.

Pray also for Amy*--her aunt is trying to convince her that she'd be better off married to some man from her village. This is not safe for her or her child.

Pray for Anika* who is underage and we are working still to legally bring her back to the home.

Pray for Ali* whose boyfriend that she ended with in December, is trying to call her back.

Pray for Leah* whose baby will soon be born. Her hormones and emotions are up and down daily. Pray for strength for her and a safe delivery for her small one.

Pray for Nelli* who is struggling daily with being in the home. Pray that her heart settles and she finds her hope in Christ.

Pray also for little Anastasia, who is in the hospital with pneumonia. She is 5 and in the hospital. Pray for a rapid healing for her.

Pray for our all women in the home that they would see that true freedom comes when it is Christ setting them free.

Celebrating the precious

We've been home from vacation not quite two days. We jumped right back into life, feeling fully refreshed. It is good to be home.

At the Home of Hope we value celebration. Most of our girls have never had a birthday party. Celebrating birthdays says, "You are special. We are glad you were born. We are glad for your life in our lives."

I love Moldovan birthday celebrations. It starts by everyone gathering and presenting their gift to the birthday girl. The gift isn't given alone. It is given with words of affirmation. Poems are read that mean something about that person. People write of the love and care and concern they feel to the one being celebrated. Then the gifts are put up, and food is served. Later cakes and candies are eaten. Finally the gifts are opened one by one.

Yesterday we celebrated Amy's* life. She is sweet and quiet and gentle. She smiled and she cried. We all cried. A life that was sold and broken, was told that she is valued abundantly.

There are always challenges at the Home. Girls get nervous and want to leave. They fight with one another. They fight with the staff. They don't like what they are feeling and they want to run from those feelings to the old things that satisfied.

But it is so good to have days to set aside all those issues and focus especially on one, and celebrate her life. I'm so very thankful for Amy.

Amy came to our home after being trafficked for forced begging on the streets of a major European city. Her holders regularly raped her and so a child was born to her.

I look at how God is redeeming her life. How her small daughter smiles and laughs and lives the life of a normal child.

Often as I'm driving in our city, I see those who beg on our streets, holding small children in their arms to elicit more sympathy. And I think that could be Amy and her sweet little daughter, but God rescued them and lifted them out from that life. They are precious to Him. They are precious to me.

This week, pray for Amy and her complete healing from the pain of brokenness. She is going to school to learn to cook. Pray that she learns well. Pray for God's hand of protection on her little daughter. Pray that God will continue to speak His life and word into their hearts and lives.

Sculpting

We are on vacation in Italy, staying with friends who live just out of Naples. It is an amazing break for our family. We've had such a great time with the girls touring Pompeii and Rome.

While in Rome we saw all the sites that tourists see. St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican has a statue call Pieta. It is a large carving of Mary holding Jesus after he has died. Michelangelo carved this sometime in his spare time between designing St. Peter's, painting the Sistine chapel ceiling and carving the statue of Moses that sits in another church. He was a busy man.

Somehow he chiseled this out of a piece of marble. The detail of the folds of Mary's garments are amazing. The size of this statue is amazing.

I'm not one to normally do such things, but I bought a small, cheap replica of this. I want it as a reminder and a picture of what God is doing in my life, in your life, and in the lives of the workers and residents at the Home of Hope. Especially the residents at the Home of Hope.

Our women come in like that big piece of marble. There is no form, no life to them at all. And then God begins to chip away at the marble of their lives. He doesn't take the chisel and expect the masterpiece to appear with one big "whack". Like Michelangelo and all his masterpieces, it comes with patience, gently chipping away a bit at a time. And then something amazing appears.

This is why our commitment to each woman who comes to us is long-term. They need time for God to do the work in their lives. They need time in the safety of our home to find God's healing for their souls.

They often can't what God is doing, that they are making any progress, that something beautiful is emerging. They can't see what they are becoming. They get discouraged and wonder if they should turn back. But somehow, as Michelangelo had the ability to see what could be in a hunk of rock or in the expanse of the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, God can see that the finished product in the hand of the Master will be beautiful.

On this Easter weekend, please pray for God's continued work in the lives of the women at the Home of Hope in Moldova. We know God is creating masterpieces in each of their lives. Pray that this Easter is amazing for them and that in it, they can see God's hand in their lives.

Today I sat with Ali* who has had some tough weeks. When she has tough weeks, everyone has tough weeks--staff, residents and her children. She struggles so badly with seeing who she is in Christ. She struggles with seeing the change in her life and believing that God really can renew and remake her.

Please pray specially for her this week. She's a tired, single mom. She is ashamed that her children have to grow up with a single mom, afraid of what they will think of her. There is so much going on within her. Please pray that God will minister His rest to her today.

Please pray also for Leah*. Her baby is not due until the first week of May, but wanting to come now. She is in the hospital on bed rest. Pray that the baby comes at the right time, strong and healthy.

God is making something beautiful of these women.

Fighters and Flighters

One thing we've come to realize with the ministry at the home is that people come into the home with two basic emotional reactions. These are known as fight or flight. Because of all the things that have happened in their lives, they have either learned to cope through fighting or by running away.

The fighters can be mean. They are mean to the staff, mean to other girls, mean to their children. It is tough to see, tough to live with. It effects us personally.

The fighters are easy to deal with--until they run away.

I've decided I'll take a fighter any day. Although she fights and gets angry and jealous, she stays. This allows us to slowly chip away at the rough exterior and get to the heart.

But the flighters are difficult. When the emotions come to a point they can't deal with them, they simply run from us. And then there is no way to help them.

Ginny*, Ina* and Anika* are all filled with flight. Ginny* packed her things and left this week. Ina* left us last fall for good. Anika* left last summer,and now wants to come back, but we have the legal issues worked out first (she is underage).

Please pray that God would show us how to break through early to those that want to run. They live with a lot of shame, fear, and despair. It is easy to recognize those emotions.

Pray that God would show us how to break through these emotions, help them to stay so that they can find a path to healing and freedom.

a Prodigal's Return

Today is International Women's Day, which I'm sure is celebrated in every country in the world except America! We had a great celebration, taking all the women out for pizza and salad. After pizza we went back to the home for ice cream and M&M cookies, which my daughter and I made last evening. (The cookies, not the ice cream).

I received tons of homemade presents. That's what is done on International Women's Day...you give presents to all the women you love. All the women worked to do something and give of themselves.

Andy is in the states. We put him on Skype, and he was able to wish everyone a happy celebration.

What a day! But the best of the day was holding our small one, Anika*, in my arms and crying with her. Last summer she chose to leave the home. She decided to walk away from all of it. The past Friday our Social Worker (bless Oxana!) took one of the other girls and they went to visit Anika in her village. They asked her if she'd want to come for the party today. Today they went to get her.

I'm not sure she said a word all day, but she took in the love. When I first saw her at the restaurant, I hugged her, but there was no response in the hug. It wasn't rejection, just inability to feel. Later at the home I again took her in my arms and told her how much I love her, how I've never stopped loving her. She hugged me back and together we cried.

We all sat for a bit and talked. The girls told Anika that every day, morning and night they have prayed for her return. They loved on her and welcomed her.

I love what God is doing there in all the hearts. It is so amazing to see.

Please continue to pray for Anika. She is the youngest girl we've had in the home. She so wants love. Pray that God really works in her life at this time. She hasn't said she will stay, but I'd be surprised if she doesn't.

Even when we chose to walk away, God never does. He has never left Anika.

In all the celebration and gifts today, seeing her again was by far the best thing.