Hey guys... I just have to share how God is working in those around me today...

So I mentioned yesterday that I'm at a School for High-Risk kids... well... they have a punishment called Social that basically, you do something stupid... you get put on social, you can't talk to the other kids and your kind of in isolation even though you might be around everyone... Anyways... 2 of our older girls have been on it... 1 because she ran away, the other because she was suspected of trashing the principals desk and hiding a machete to use to kill her later... Pretty intense stuff eh??? Anyways. we had a House Council. Basically all the girls came together, sat in a circle, and we talked about issues...

The girl who ran away, has been here 2 yrs already and they haven't been able to get her working on her problems... Today she started opening up... Definitely greatly prodded by the staff, but she got talking. She's been Sexually Abused in her past. She feels it's her fault, She's scared her mom won't believe her. and Right now she's obviously filled with Fear and Shame. But she's started talking :) Step 1 in motion. Praise God.

Girl 2... This is where the excitement truly came in. Evidence was piled all around this dear girl... But she wouldn't confess, and she started getting very Defensive and angry. We started talking, she started getting upset. We changed direction. She talked about the abuse she's experienced. Grew up in Ethiopia, Father Beat her, Stomped on her head, Mom choked her, Tried to suffocate her with spices and blankets, but never to the point of death. She eventually told her mother what she would like to do to her mother... Mother got scared enough to send her and the siblings to an orphanage... There she continued to be abused, physically and sexually. Eventually she was adopted by a family in the USA. But by that time no one knew what to do with this violent, girl that would imagine all sorts of horrible ways to kill people. So the story brings her to this school. The principal reminds her of a mother figure, the one she desperately wants, but because of her past experience with her mother she can only look at her with resent and anger. At some point in the evening we broke for supper, and then returned to eat, and continue trying to get her to confess. She became so defensive and angry that she started getting in peoples faces and yelling... at this point the little girls were becoming scared and so staff held them close. She eventually escalated so much that she exploded. The staff remained calm, the young girls cried softly, and finally after minutes of yelling at everyone and threats, she broke down at some point with "I just want my mommy" to which the principal ran in and held her tight. Finally... we could leave and go to week of prayer. After the WOP meeting... we gathered around and she wanted to apologize for her behaviour... Let me tell you. This is an amazing Girl. She has an incredible strength that I hope she will use with God's help to begin her healing process, and to grow closer to Him. She wants to follow Christ, But she needs alot of prayer, and alot of healing. All week I've been talking with her as she shares verse after verse that she knows, that she treasures, and that she desires to live out.

These Kids have amazing backgrounds. Some perhaps more traumatic then others. But all have the same desire. To know love, to be healed. They just need desperate Help and a whole lot of prayer.
Please keep these kids and so many like them in your prayers.