Identity?

In the campaign, we are also hosting events in our meeting room every Saturday afternoon. Along with going on campus to talk with the girls, we are inviting them to a time to hear about their value as women, what is true beauty, what a perfect God thinks about them, who Jesus really is, and so much more. Last week, our first talk was about our identity and value as girls, given by our national director's wife, Leticia Bloise. She asked us to think about the labels that we've been given from our families, friends, teachers, and the many people that have influenced us in our lives. Sharing how these affect the perception of ourselves, she asked us to share in pairs some of our answers. I was partnered up with a friend of Erika's from class, Ana. After I shared a few of mine, she was very quick to speak up, and with a stern, "No, nothing that anyone has ever said affects me, I don't let it affect me," the conversation came to a halt. I saw right through it.

In talking to and interacting with so many girls now on campus, it gets easier to read through a persons words to their thoughts or see through their defenses. I could see right through this girl. It was almost like a calling out for love. She had obviously been affected with the things that people have conditioned her to believe about herself. I didn't push past her answer because she wasn't budging. I started praying. Then Leticia brought us back together to share some of our answers. My partner shared the same thing with the group. That nothing that anyone says affects her. Leticia was able to share with this girl some personal vulnerable stories of how the labels had affected her and how she had replaced those lies with the truth of Jesus. After the talk was over, Ana began to tear down her defenses and share that in reality everything affected her and that she was holding so much in. We got to see the Lord soften her heart. It was an experience for our student leaders to be involved in as well. They were encouraged by the way the Lord is working through the campaign to touch the lives of students.

I'm not listening to your rules...

As you might have seen in my newsletter, this is the flier for our new women's campaign on campus. We recently started this new project! Its been a great experience so far. We are going on campus asking women really hard questions like:

What is beauty to you?

What makes a woman valuable?

Are women valued in society today?

What do you see when you see yourself?

How do you think God sees you?

Our focus is on two very distinct campuses. One is the humanities campus with the English Translation, Psychology, Law, Sociology and History majors. We have found the women to be open and willing to talk. In talking with two girls who are Sociology majors, we discovered that they had conflicting views on the church vs. God. Like so many Argentines, they went to Catholic private elementary, middle and high schools, where they are taught what to do to be a "good girl" and taught a bunch of "out-of date" teachings on the Bible. The power and love of the gospel is nonexistent in many of these schools. So as you can imagine, the picture of God they receive is one of a rule imposer, condemning them. Who would want that God? To have that perception of the Lord, I wouldn't want that either. What's the need for another authority in our lives to boss us around? 

In talking deeper with the girls, the Lord gave us the chance to share about our personal relationship with the Lord and what He's actually done for us in his LOVE. How He's changed us, how he delights in us and allows us to delight in Him. Praying for the need of the gospel to come through to these girls, they kept sharing their views of religious people and their even less desirable religious rules. One of their comments was about how they didn't like that people just believed what was imposed upon them, that they heard something in school and then blindly followed it. When did the need for Jesus become a blind-dumb following? It is about questioning and searching and discovering why do I really believe this? I encouraged the girls to question to seek out answers, not just believe "because someone told me." In conclusion to this conversation we were able to present the Lord how He really is, desiring the hearts and lives of these girls, and wanting to know them on a personal level and caring for them.  They were left questioning things they'd believed for years about the church and more importantly about who God is...Could He really care about ME?