Repairer of Broken Walls

lately the biblical image of God as the "Repairer of Broken Walls" (Isaiah 58) has been running through my head. its beautiful...and stems from a few different experiences i've had recently.

i was here in 2007 for a 4 month internship. There were ladies who were almost finished with their 6 months of training at Sari Bari. beautiful women who i got to spend time with - who i got to know a bit. friends. i've been back to visit a handful of times since then, and i've seen and heard stories of how they continue to move forward into wholeness and restoration. But being back, spending time with these women - its breath-taking. to see the way the Lord has restored them over the course of 3 years, i just can't even describe it really. i know its been a long slow process. i know there have been bumps, set-backs, and pain along the way. I know that the Sari Bari community had grown together and walked together through beautiful and difficult days. but i can also see how beautifully God has been at work in lives. i talk with these friends, or see them across the room and see a warmth, a softness, and openness that has replaced a "hardness" that i used to see. the smiles. the joy. the confidence that exudes out of them - it leaves my brain spinning at the beauty of it.

Repairer of Broken Walls.

on Monday i went out to Canning (about an 1 1/2 hr train ride) from here to visit our newest production unit - our prevention unit. again, my brain was spinning at the beauty of our newest employees. beautiful women. beautiful smiles. they haven't experienced the dark days, the betrayal, the woundedness that our other employees have. these are women who i met at the newest Sari Bari - who i will not meet in the dark lanes of the rd lght area we visit. i had a great time talking with the ladies (girls in some ways, our target population for the prevention unit is girls/women 17-25 yrs old) beginning to get to know them. asking about their families, if they knew one another before Sari Bari. the smiles. the joy. the new opportunity that they have to earn money to meet family needs. it was a life-giving day.

and the name "Repairer of Broken Walls" kept running through my head - and how beautiful it is that the destruction has not happened...and how redemption sometimes comes in the prevention of destruction. He is still repairing. still drawing unto himself.

beautiful.
Repairer of Broken Walls.