For the past two days we’ve had the chance to go into the juvenile correctional facility here in Ratchaburi and teach English to girls ranging from ages of 13 to 23 years old. A lot of the girls are there because of drugs, petty theft, or they took the blame for their brother/ex boyfriend/etc.’s crime. By coming to and completing the English seminar we hosted, their sentence will get reduced by a month. We had about 15 girls come, which was perfect for the amount of people we have on our team.
(orange shirts: already received their sentence // pink shirts: waiting to go to court/judge to get sentence)
We were able to teach them basic English like: my name is ____, i like/don’t like ____, and in my family i have ____. While that was fun, the best part about being there was hearing their stories and loving on them.
Later, we asked them if they felt like they were worth less after having been in juvi.
The sad answer: yes.
These girls felt like since they had made a mistake, or even had taken the blame for someone else & were where they are, that their worth/value is less than somebody else’s.
After the English lesson, our host & teacher, Bronwyn, gave me the opportunity to share a short little message with the girls.
(faces blurred out for confidential reasoning)We sat in a circle together and i had the privilege of telling them about my best friend who wrote a book for me that’s changed my life – His name is Jesus and He wrote the Bible for me.
There’s a story in it that He wrote for me that reminds me about His love for me, His forgiveness He shows me, & how I will always be of value. This story, or parable, is known as the prodigal son. If you don’t know the story or just need a little refresher here it is: a son goes to his father & demands to receive his inheritance. The dad gives it to him & the son leaves the house & runs away, using it to live recklessly. A famine comes & the son doesn’t have any money & is in need. He decides to go back home & has realized that he’s unworthy of being his father’s son. When he gets home, he plans on telling his dad how he feels, but after he says this, his father looks at him, forgets what he’s done, & throws him the biggest party, only happy to have him back.
[ L U K E 1 5 ]
No matter what these girls have done, Jesus forgives them. He doesn’t see them through a lens of the things they’ve done (good or bad), but He sees them through a lens of love, grace, & as His children. Just because we’ve messed up doesn’t mean that we’re not as valuable anymore.
To be honest, after i shared this, i didn’t feel like the girls were really understanding what i was trying to say. I got nervous and forgot everything, & then the Holy Spirit did His thing. The Lord quickly gave me an example to use with them.
Lost Baht.
Baht is the currency here (everyone should move to Thailand, a huge plate of pad thai is $0.75, just saying).
I asked them, have you ever lost baht before? You had 40, now you have 20. You search everywhere & finally find it. It has a few rips on the edges, it’s crumpled up, & wrinkly. Although it’s not in its most pristine shape, did it’s worth go down? NO. Can it still buy you something? YES. So does it still have value? YES.
it hasn’t gone from being 20 baht to just a piece of paper. just like that, our value doesn’t change. we may have made some mistakes and feel like we’re damaged, useless, or of no worth or little value now, but remember this: you still have value.
sometimes, it’s hard to believe that when you don’t know where you’re getting your value from, or, you’re getting it from the world.
so i challenge you with this: don’t let the world dictate your value. you’re not the sum total of what you have done. you don’t have to live by who people say you are.
You are who God says you are.
He tells you that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He knows every moment of your life – the good, the bad. the successes, the failures. He sent His Son to come die on a cross for you. He values you infinitely, and forever. when you make mistakes, or when you made a mistake, God doesn’t look at you differently. His opinion of you & His love for you doesn’t even waver. You’re still of value to Him. and you always will be.
