"I want them to know who they are"

Nueva Esperanza- New Hope Girls Inc. hosted their first mother- daughter conference last  Tuesday.  While we had thought and prayed about it for months, yet in the final moments I felt unorganized and wondered how it was going to fall into place. I had warned the presenters that the moms would probably not show up as mornings were so hard for them with chores and cooking and little ones to tend to... The night before I spoke with the guest speaker who asked me,  “what do you want them to know?”

 “I want them to know who they are,” I responded.

When we arrived the next day, they were ALL there.....Our guest speaker  shared her daughter’s testimony of abuse and shame and how God helped her face and conquer her giants.  She had them hanging on every word via a translator.  (That Never happens)  She had them stand up and sit down to remind them of how God saw their every move and has adopted them into his family.  You are His.  You are Chosen.  You are adopted.  You have the power through him to conquer your giants!

When I went to thank her for sharing she told me how while she had prayed in preparation for this presentation, God had impressed on her that even though she shares all over the world, this audience was special… “It was as though she were speaking before kings and presidents.”  I know she was right. Later that day we hiked up to the top of the hill to visit a family and barrow their spectacular view.  “ You are a holy nation” I kept hearing God whisper in my ear.

When I returned home that evening I realized Vidal had taken the same trip up the hill that day and posted the same barrowed view as his Facebook profile with New Hope circled and I was reminded of a vision a dear friend had shared with me many years ago…

She was walking past our home and noticed a rushing stream in front of our house full of the most beautiful precious stones.  She knew that it represented blessing and was in awe of God’s love and mercy.  She felt an excitement and urgency to get to her home, hoping to find a similar scene, but instead she found her mother hammering a “for sale” sign into her land.  When she went to her mother to ask her what she was doing, she said the land was cursed and that they must sell it now.  They wrestled over the sign and she cried bitter tears over her land until Vidal walked by and pulled the sign from their hands.  He declared the land was blessed and holy and soon a stream began to flow there too.

This vision was shared with me in 2006, in fact I had forgotten all about it until now.  But the land my friend lived on in 2006 was sold to another friend and later donated to New Hope and it is currently where the safe house and school reside.  It is so true—What many see as a cursed land, God himself declares as blessed and holy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZA_JSZk0W8

May our girls never forget who they are—a Holy nation, royalty, chosen, precious, treasured, blessed.  May they never forget that they are as “kings and presidents” set apart in to be a light on the hill.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. I Peter 2:9