A Diamond in the Rough

After spending two days in Kijabe we packed up tents and headed to the Rift Valley to spend 6 days with the Maasai Tribe. They are such beautiful people and almost all welcomed us (especially our electronics) with open arms. There was a pastor there trying to plant a church among these nomadic people so we spent the majority of the week walking, walking, walking and walking many kilometers from hut to hut sharing the gospel. 4 people found salvation this week and we praise God for it and all the walking was worth it!

 

My story however begins in a small 9×9 mud hut. Three people lived in this hut Elizabeth (the mother), Alice (16 yrs old), and Naomi (Alice’s Daughter 1mnth old). As we approached the house Amos, a Maasaii elder and translator, informed my group Patrice, Jenna G, & Holli that Elizabeth is a believer but her and Alice have backed away from the church since Naomis birth. The goal was to encourage them in their faith and especially to start attending church again. As we were welcomed into this tiny hut I immediately felt heavy. I smiled at Alice and her eyes shot straight to the ground filled with shame. I put my head down and began to pray that God would just release all this guilt I could feel Alice carrying. Patrice encouraged Elizabeth a lot and as I held Naomi in my hands I began to cry. She was perfect in every way. As we walked out  of the hut our goal was accomplished but our God once again had much bigger plans.

 

As we continued going hut to hut I struggled pulling my emotions together. So I asked Amos to tell me more of Alice’s story, we just knew she had had a baby and had stopped coming to church. It turns out that Elizabeth went to travel one day and left Alice at home. She was sexually assaulted and raped that night. She then became pregnant with Naomi and had to drop out of grade school. Elizabeth even wanted to reject Alice because of this, even so much that she didn’t even take Alice to the hospital for the birth. This was the first time in the trip my heart was completely shattered. I told Amos I would like to go back and visit her again the next day.

 

The next day the four of us walked to her hut. This time Elizabeth stayed afar as we just asked Alice about all the emotions she had been feeling. She still greeted us with heads and eyes down and no smile. We talked and talked and finally God just encouraged me to share with her my personal testimony. As I shared and encouraged her I really couldn’t read her reaction at all. I asked her permission to carry her burdens for her so I could cast them off to God. She raised her head, with a full smile on her face, and said something to Amos. Amos looked at me and said, “she said She is now Happy” I invited her back to church and told her I would sit right next to her holding Naomi so she could sing and dance.We were invited inside her hut for some Chai tea and she just laughed and sang with us. It was the most beautiful thing i’ve never experienced in my life. God is so good, all the time. I gave her my bracelet to remember the freedom that she feels.

 

On sunday she joined us as church and sang and danced her way to healing. At the end they had an altar call and she responded and walked up with Naomi. Whether it was to rediscover and renew her relationship with Christ, or just for prayer God, is stirring in her heart and please keep ALICE AND NAOMI in your prayers. I am forever changed by this young girl. The release I felt in that moment was so great that it was only by God’s ultimate grace that this could have been possible. A life completely restored and healed and I am so humbled that He didn’t need me but yet He chose to use me to show her that Naomi is a gift from God and that Alice is not a used school drop out but a Diamond in the Rough.

 

oh the beauty of God’s freedom keeps ringing. i’m in love