Taking a Risk in My Real Freaking World
Are you kidding? Me starting a women’s ministry? Here I go, but first let me tell a story.
Last summer I finished a year of participation in a group for mothers of preschoolers called MOPS. To be honest, I was relieved to be done. While their program was very encouraging and I am thankful for it, the women in the group lacked some of the life experiences I needed companionship and support for.
All of us in the group shared a need for support, but no one else’s struggles revolved around poverty, oppression, addictions, abuse, abandonment, racism, unemployment, and crime. My life has always been connected to all these issues. Going to women’s groups that did not meet these needs made me feel even more isolated.
In fact, many times when I risked being vulnerable in these settings, the women’s meaningful attempts to comfort me were unavoidably tainted with their inability to relate. They really cared, but their caring often was expressed by the words “you poor thing.”
I didn’t want to be a poor thing, I just wanted others to share my reality. Many times I would come home, question why I was still even going to them, and always came back to the fact that at some level I needed female companionship. For the time being as a stay-at-home mom, this is what I was able to get.
Less than six months later in the fall/winter of 2005, I started to visit and mingle with the women of Joshua Station more and more. Joshua Station is a transitional housing facility for homeless families under the umbrella of Mile High Ministries in downtown Denver. As my husband works for Mile High Ministries/Joshua Station I would often visit him, and began to participate in some of the activities that took place with the families there.
In this short time I started to notice more and more women who were just like me, and needed companionship that didn’t negate the realities of their lives, but also offered support and hope through the pain. It was at this time, that I realized that what I needed most was something other women needed too. God was moving with me to fulfill this need. The risk of attempting such a project as starting a women’s ministry is a new experience for me, and I am not afraid to fail. I’ve come to find that in my imperfection and weakness, there is commonality and scandalous unity. I’ve come to find that my traumatic, ongoing life struggles are things that only God could make use of, and not a waste. In a community of women that often feel powerless over life, our lack of power will be the glue that God uses to bring us to connect with Him.
The spiritual practice of lament is the focus of our group, both in pain and victory. Women in such chronically painful settings easily become targets of evangelism efforts (for good reason), but far too often receive mixed messages of faith that minimize their real life experiences, pain, and suffering. While the intent of this group will be to not force faith in an evangelistic way, the underlying purpose will be to integrate faith and real life experiences. By teaching one another to be never be fake, always feel pain, and never turn down healing, I am confident that Christ will be revealed, and God will be honored.
I would enjoy your comments and encouragement on this blog, and I ask for your prayers. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Comments
"I’ve come to find that in my imperfection and weakness, there is commonality and scandalous unity"-Powerful!
I haven't heard our plight as humans & the condition to our connection to Him and each other compacted in such a lucid & transcendent little pill! Well done Tiara
-L
Posted by: lencho R | January 12, 2006 02:36 PM