King Solomon captured a timeless truth when he wrote “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” Rebecca’s heart had been sick for a very long time when I first met her just inside the door of an electronics shop where she was working. It’s been nearly a decade since that divine connection. The pathway Rebecca has traveled toward freedom was long and challenging.
Women don’t give birth to women. They all start out as girls. An orphan for as long as she could remember, Rebecca’s childhood up to that point had been harsh, and hopeless, doubting anyone really loved her. Her life didn’t resemble those she imagined. Every girl’s heart can dream, but I sensed her dream had either been silenced or put to sleep permanently. Disappointment had been her daily diet.
Rebecca had no idea that day at More Electronics that love had shown up. No awareness that God revealed Himself in Jesus through an old white man. Even if she had been aware she would not have been able to believe it.
It’s one thing to unlock someone’s prison door but it is another thing to loose the chains that bind their heart.
I am convinced girls need their father. I believe this because it’s fathers who tell them who they are. In cases where there is no father it’s easy for a false narrative to form and take root. Buried in the trash heap. Lost in a sea of homeless. Forgotten, neglected, abused, unwanted, and hopeless. But not everything we bury is dead.
Pain is a liar. Even when love shows up, it’s difficult for love’s voice to be heard over the lie of pain which says this love is too good to be true and even if it is true, it’s not deserved.
The first year of life with Rebecca was pretty much a one-way relationship. Her identity was so distorted that she had difficulty answering simple yes and no questions. The danger appeared too great that those questions lead to her heart. She left the village to avoid any more pain of abandonment. She had to protect herself from any additional pain as it could be fatal.
Hearts are delicate. Especially if they have been wounded again and again and again. It would take time for freedom to loose the chains and replace the false identity Rebecca lived under.
Sometimes I can’t wrap my head around where my life has taken me. I turned 76 years old this week and as I look over my shoulder at those many years it’s only my heart that can travel the distance.
More than 20 years ago my heart took me to the Pearl of Africa. Without a road map but armed with a compass I kept moving forward until I realized that the nation of Uganda would be changed one person at a time. That revelation should have arrived sooner in my life because I was familiar with the words of Jesus in Matthew 18:12-14. The needs of one outweigh those of the many.
Over the next several years I stood on the sidelines and cheered for the work of Jesus Christ in setting Rebecca free to be the person God created her to be. Her story is a fascinating story of redemption and transformation. Not only did I get to participate in that story as a narrator of God’s truth but with my wife, I found the distinguished pleasure of becoming her parent. A position that provided the privilege of countering the lies from hell with the truths of heaven.
More significantly, Rebecca’s Heavenly Father has been speaking the truth to her over and over and over. And, while fathers matter, only God is qualified to define us. Not circumstances. Not other people. Only God is fully qualified. Only God can loose the chains that confine the heart and set it free.
Rebecca uses several terms for me these days. She never calls me Papa like nearly every other person with whom I have had influence in Uganda. She refers to me as her Favorite, her Old Man, her daddy, and Dad… each one a term of endearment. I’m convinced she calls me Dad often because she is making up for all the time she hadn’t said it growing up as an orphan.
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| Rebecca – December 2022 – A grown woman of God |
Rebecca was a tormented girl trapped in a woman’s body when I met her. Today she bears no resemblance to that tiny village girl. Freedom through Christ has made her a mighty woman of God. The destination of freedom may be nearly complete, but the journey of bringing freedom to others began more recently. Armed with her own story and belief that love arrives in the person of Jesus, Rebecca is now a transportation device and clear evidence of the power of Christ to set people free.
It’s difficult to argue with a transformed life.
Rebecca is not waiting until she graduates from medical school and begins her medical missionary work. She is convinced she is always a full-time minister and carries the good news of freedom wherever she is and wherever she goes.
Look forward to reading about some of the lives she has impacted in the weeks to come. If you have not yet done so, please subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss any of those stories.
