Choices

We make choices daily that guide the direction of our life. Some choices we make seem minuscule such as what am I going to eat or wear today; while others can change the direction of our life.

My girls are dealing with some of these life changing choices on a daily basis. They have made the choice to leave their addiction filled life, do what they want when they want life, only look after myself life and do whatever it takes to care for me life. They made the choice to enter a life that is structured and filled with support and love for them. A life where they have to face all the hurt they stuffed way deep down inside and sealed it up to never be thought about again. A life, in which, they fight daily to remain sober and begin the change process. This is a daily and sometimes a moment by moment choice for them.

Sadly, some of the girls let a sporadic or festering thought of running away to overwhelm them and they throw this new life away for the old life. Monday three of our girls did just that. Yessani, who is 14 and has a 2 year old child, has been at Renacer for about 2 weeks and just wasn’t “buying into” this process. Marcela, who is 13 and has been here for 3 months, always seemed to struggle with staying. Yet, she really made some amazing changes and was well on her way to a new life.

Then there’s Ibleda. It shocked me the most that she ran away. She is 17 and comes from a pretty rough and very poor family. She had 5 months in the process of change and her changes were incredible! The shy, angry and resistant girl grew into a girl who accepted love, saw that she had what it took to change, began to grow in interest in the things of Christ, and even a physical change that was incredible. She just had her appendices taken out several weeks ago and recovered well. I was hanging out with her just earlier that morning and was herself yet just a few hours later she was gone.

Obviously, I wish these girls made a different choice but ultimately it’s their choice to make. So now all we can do is pray that the Lord will protect them and that they will not return back to the empty life of drugs, abuse and the street culture.

Tuesday, I did an initial interview with Ana Cristina, 14, in which we discuss her beliefs. She has been at Renacer for just over a month now and I thoroughly enjoy her. She has a desire to learn about who Jesus is and what He is all about. While we talked she expressed to me that she really has no belief and doesn’t even know if she believes that God, Jesus and the Devil actually exist.

I think she has a hope that He does exist but just doesn’t know. Instead of sitting back and doing nothing, she is making a choice to find out the truth and I get to be a tiny part of that. I am overwhelmed and yet very excited to help her discover the truth about our amazing God and Savior. Please be in prayer for her as she dives head first into this life changing journey.