Lessons from M

M is pleasant, almost cheerful. As we talk she tells me a bit about how she wound up here. She was abused by her biological mother--stabbed, injected with heroin. She went to live with a relative when she was 3 years old and stayed there until she was 8. She was placed in foster care where she was degraded constantly and suffered all kinds of further abuse. She delivered her first child, a son, when she was 12. She delivered her second child, a daughter, when she was 15. Her daughter died at 2 weeks old, a victim of SIDS. Her son, now 5, lives with a foster family. She sees him occasionally.

M has done several hard, illicit drugs. She quit when she was sent to jail and could no longer obtain them. She has been in three group homes. I have only known her to be kind, if a bit hard. It is obvious that she craves the attention of men. She thinks she might support herself one day by servicing males.

M is only 17.

She has never come to Monday Night Bible Study, but I have interacted with her a bit around the group home. I spent a little time with her today. I enjoyed her and had a very hard time reconciling that the girl described above was the same one I was standing next to.

I took M and J, another resident, to serve the poor at our community's soup kitchen. I thought it would be a great opportunity to feel empowered to serve others, rather than always feel like they were the ones being served. I realized as people came through the line it was also a great chance for these girls to see the reality of life on the streets--that it might make them think twice before 'signing out' at 18. They knew many of the people who came through the line and commented on how 'bad ' they looked--how obvious it was that drugs and hard living had taken their toll. Yet, they were more comfortable in this environment than in other more 'high brow' places.

This afternoon during a quiet moment taking out the garbage I was thinking back over my day. It is unbelievable to me how much pain these girls have experienced in their young lives--how resilient they seem on the surface despite it all. And the handful I know are just a few of the thousands throughout the world!

I thought of how much they need Jesus--how He is truly their only hope...and then I was reminded that despite how scrubby clean and ideal my life looks next to theirs...I am as deeply in need of Him.

We can turn a blind eye to the truth of the world around us. We can decide it is all too sad and too hard. We can hide in our comfortable suburban bubbles...but it won't go away. It will still be there. We will just be missing the opportunity to serve people that our Savior died for--and have our salvation become far more meaningful in the process.

This world is really broken and messed up...but it is not our home. Hallelujah!