Click here for a special post about hope and love after brokenheartedness in which I played a tiny role. Early this spring, two of my sweet friends and I packaged up our forlorn bridesmaids dresses and one wedding dress and sent them with a group of travelers to Gulu, northern Uganda. After years of extreme violence, the region has begun healing and regrouping.* One young American couple moved to Uganda five years ago to help women affected by the war and the sex trade. They call their ministry the Zion Project and offer unconditional love and Christ's hope. As the women heal, most of them desire to be married one day.
Slowly, I began to watch them start dreaming, start hoping, and this was the scariest part of all. To think that now open, now softened, they might be crushed again.
I could only pray, “Father show them your goodness.”
Recently, our dresses were offered to brides with a history of abandonment and abuse--former prostitutes or naive girls who are now loved and protected by Godly men. In a country rife with polygamy and sexual abuse, these are miraculous love stories. Yours truly may sneer at chick flicks, but the tears come quickly when I hear of people who chose love and faithfulness in the midst of pain.
*The recently popular Kony 2012 video produced by Invisible Children describes the violence of Joseph's Kony's rogue forces as a current threat. While this army is still a danger, it has not been active in Uganda for some time. Ugandan partners of Joni and Friends and other personal connections of mine have expressed disappointment that Invisible Children did not highlight the healing and building that has occurred, due in large part to the dedication of Ugandan nationals.
