Restorative Justice

Galatians 6:1-2 states, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

Wow. Restorative Justice has been amazing and yet very emotionally draining. I was reading Galatians 6 this morning and came across the above verse. First of all, I don't consider myself "spiritual" and secondly, I can hardly handle carrying my own sins and burdens, much less anyone else's!!! In the staff prayer meeting this morning at Jubilee, I just couldn't help but cry as I thought about Gloria and her burdens and struggles. I can't even imagine being where she is. I am so not qualified to even begin to help her through this. Yet I realize that it's not me, but God working through me.

In this course, I am "counseling" two ladies. I really just facilitate discussions and help lead them in the direction that the instructor is going. My two ladies are Latisha and Gloria, and they are both 33 years old. I love them both so dearly. They are so precious. My heart hurts for them.

We are having a family day at Pollsmoor (prison) this Saturday and I called Gloria's and Latisha's families to invite them. It was so amazing to get to talk to them and they are so excited about the course and the family day coming up. The family day is primarily for the ladies to apologize for the hurt that they have caused and to take responsibility in front of their families for the crimes they have committed. When I heard that the family day was just two weeks into the course, I was actually surprised and thinking that there is no way the ladies are going to be ready to apologize just two weeks into the course. Yet, by the second day of what I have realized is an incredibly intense and emotionally draining course, many of the ladies were crying and saying that they want to apologize to their families and restore those broken relationships.

One of the ladies in the course is a Muslim and four days into the course she had the revelation that our God is a God of relationship and a personal God, and she had never known that before.

I was asked to lead the morning devotion on the third day of the course. I had no idea what to talk about and was not feeling any direction from God. At the last minute, I decided just to share part of my testimony. I brought in the famous verses of Jeremiah 29:11-13, along with several others. When I was finished sharing, one of the other leaders wanted to say something... she said that the night before she could hardly sleep because those verses were continually going through her head. She almost came in that morning and asked if she could do the devotion because she felt like that's what God wanted to talk about. After she was finished, the lady leading the course, Jenny, said that that verse was continually going through her head, as well, and she had a song that was those verses being sung and she had found the CD to play and planned to play it later during the day... but she went ahead and played the song in the morning, since we had been discussing it. We then went into an amazing time of worship for about 30 minutes. Wow. He's amazing... God is continuing to surprise me this year.

I am feeling incredibly drained and not even sure how to go about "filling up my tank". I have learned one interesting thing (among others, of course) in the last few months. I was involved with intercessory prayer during our youth camp and was telling one of the other prayers that I almost don't know what to do or how to intercede for these meetings. She said that as God works in me, He will outpour through me and into praying for them. Also, while I was in the training for the Restorative Justice course, the leader (Jenny) said that we should just let God work in us and, as a result of Him working in us, He will outpour through us. Seems obvious, but was a revelation to me! And, it takes some of the pressure off! :)

Also an update that I no longer have a car... the car that I have been driving has been acting up more and more and the cost to fix it just isn't worth it. If we can sell it, the church will put some money in and purchase another vehicle for volunteers to use while they are here. I went to Pollsmoor yesterday by public transport, which was interesting, but not bad. It took a little over an hour for me to get there... here's my journey: 10 minute walk from flat to train station, 35ish minutes on train, from train station got a taxi and it's about a 10-minute ride to Pollsmoor, and then about a 10-minute walk to training center. Two ladies that are also in the course met me at the train station and we took the taxi and the walk together, which is quite good. It is actually quite a bit cheaper than having a car, as petrol is SO expensive here.

Love you all so much!