‘Jesus willingly entered the darkness so that we could live in the light of his presence’ – Paul David Tripp
Most of the girls we serve are afraid or at least have very mixed feelings, about Christmas. Why? All sorts of abuse, drinking, extreme need and broken relationships. That’s what most of the girls we serve remember and tell us about their early holidays, including Christmas.
But the Christmas story really is a light story. The light coming into a world that had been cast into darkness. Under the burden of rebellion and sin, the world had become a dark place. In the darkness of immorality, injustice, violence, greed, self-righteousness and a host of other ills, the world was desperate for light.
The girls we serve know darkness first hand. They have seen it, felt it and experience it. But now they’re getting to know the Eternal Light. By God’s grace we are teaching them everyone was part of the problem and everyone suffered from the problem, but no one could solve the problem… except God. He sent the One who is light to enlighten the world by his grace. He came into the darkness so that we could know the light and life forever. That is the true Christmas story. Only light can defeat darkness and restore what was broken. And light has come!
Our prayer, and all we do, aims for the girls to experience and know the light firsthand. In this the role of God’s family, His Church is key. The girls we serve were wounded terribly by their blood families and God wants to restore them through His faith family, starting with the Older Brother that was born into this world in a manger. So this Christmas we were able to go one more step than previous years in our calling to reflect God’s light to this little ones.
The 25th was celebrated as usual. We gathered at the girl’s home for lunch. Before receiving the gifts and eating delicious food we reflected on Christmas as the birth of Jesus. The day when God became a man and was born into this world. To help the girls understand the celebration we call it figuratively ‘His birthday’. When we go to a birthday… we bring gifts, right? Then I invited the girls to reflect on what we can give Jesus this Christmas.
On the other hand, the dinner of the 24th was held differently. Four families from within Amparo’s close trust circle received the girls in groups of 3. We had been praying for this for several months but we couldn’t anticipate how good the experience was going to be. It is definitely healing for the girls to see whole families surrounding them, loving them and caring for them.
As one of older girls said: ‘In Amparo’s community I experienced that even when my mother and father abandoned me, The Lord takes care of me’ (Psalm 27:10). That’s why we were comforted in the first place right? So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. (2 Corinthians 1) And that’s why we received the Light, to reflect it and make it known to other, right? (1 Corinthians 11; Philippians 3:17)