“She used to be so beautiful. She still is beautiful but the world has done a lot to her.” Says one of the ladies who has known Cindy (name change) for about five years. In those five years, she has spent most of them on the streets, sometimes in and out of temporary housing.
Cindy has been living with a drug and alcohol dependency throughout this time. She has been involved in relationships that are abusive and destructive. These have caused not only the emotional scars but also the physical scars. These scars are visible, on her face, on her body, but also in her spirit. Living on the streets is hard. Living with all of those barriers is hard. Living with all of those combined-I could not imagine.
Every Tuesday night believers come together and provide a meal to the people who live under the bridge. Each week they partner with different churches and ministries that help cook and pass out dinner. The gospel is preached every week, and people are free to listen or get their food and go on their way. The church this week had the motto of ‘I wouldn’t feed anything to anyone that I wouldn’t have in my own home,’ so the food was gooood.
Cindy walked up after most of the food was gone, but her significant other (but maybe not so healthy for her) saved a plate for her. She knew some of the people, but didn’t really speak much. The physical pain was evident in how she walked and the spiritual pain was evident in how she approached the world. She stayed long after everyone left, just talking to the family that started the weekly feedings. Her spirit was looking for something.
In my short time with her, I knew her spirits were low. A Korean youth group from Charlotte was here this week, and one of the leaders was not too confident in her English, but her faith was very strong. The youth were praying with some of the other people and Cindy walked up to me asking if I spoke another language. I said no and pointed her to the two Korean leaders.
She asked them to pray for her, and there was power. I had absolutely no idea what they were praying for, Cindy didn’t either, but she felt God’s presence. When they were finished, she looked younger, she looked stronger, she looked happier. She still had the scars on her face, but she didn’t look tired.
A theme of the week with these kids, was learning that God uses all situations and circumstances, when we are willing to be used by God. Some people may ask, why come on a mission trip if you can’t even speak the language of the culture you are in? But God uses people regardless of culture or language barriers, and it is beautiful to see those little glimpses of heaven.
