Back to Rehab

Today I was given the opportunity to go to a woman’s rehab center called the Serenity House.  There were 10 women living there who are or have been addicted to drugs or alcohol or had been living out on the streets and seeking a place to get their lives back together.  Nine of us girls from the ship drove about 2 hours to spend the afternoon with these ladies and it was such an amazing time.  After introducing ourselves I sang a song for them.  It was a song called Come to Me by Jill Paquette.  The first couple of lines go something like this: “Broken and battered your confidence shattered but I am still here.  The things that you cling to they seem to just bring you right back to your fears.”  And the song goes on to talk about how Jesus is calling us to come to Him and everything will be alright and you will find love and healing through Him.  The women really seemed to enjoy it.  After my song, one of our girls shared her testimony.  She has had a pretty rough life and has a story that these women could relate to really well and after she finished sharing each of the 10 women there began sharing each of their stories with us.  It was amazing to see such openness and honesty and it was so good to just be real with each other as we all shared our different struggles and battles and how and in Whom we find hope and strength.  The lady that acts as the director of the place shared with us that she was ready to give up and close down because she felt like she wasn’t really accomplishing anything and she was just getting ready to have a meeting with the women to discuss some options when we pulled up.  She told us that we had brought her a new hope and motivation to continue the work.  Please be praying for her and the women there, as this is the only women’s shelter of its kind in all of the English speaking Caribbean.  During our time there I also had the opportunity to pray for a 16 year old girl who had been raped by a relative and gotten pregnant and had a 2 week old daughter.  What a precious pair those two are and she seems to have a genuine relationship with Christ and asked me to pray for her mom who is not saved.  I hurt inside for these women and the lives they have lived and the pain and the brokenness and the addictions they have fallen prey to, some of it because of their own choices and some of it because of unfortunate circumstances.  But these women were so open to hearing and talking about the Lord and we were able to encourage each other to never give up, to keep fighting the battle, and to trust God to provide the victory.  I tried so much to help these women know and understand that they were beautiful and precious and worthy of love.  The place they live in is in desperate need of repair and our team is really hoping that we can send some others out there to do some work for them and we would really like to have the opportunity to bring these women back to the ship with us and host them for a day and let them share a meal with us while we are there.  Please be praying that God would orchestrate that for us, as it would be such a blessing!