“My parents are very traditional parents. You know how everyone wants a boy instead of a girl? My father is very disappointed that I am a boy, and he never talks to me. My mother loves me very much, but my father doesn’t. I used to be very angry at him and think that I shouldn’t love him, but now I think it doesn’t matter to me. I will just be a good daughter, even if my father doesn’t love me.”
“My parents are also traditional parents. They don’t show any kind of love to each other. I never see them touch each other or say they love each other. I wish they would do this, and sometimes I try to get them to do it, but they never do. I wonder if my parents are happy.”
A group of girls were over to our house for a party that my housemates were putting on, and now we were playing the skittles game. We passed around the bowl of skittles with the instructions for each girl to take 5 pieces of candy. Each color of the skittles represented a different topic, and at this moment we were on the orange color, which was about family. Anyone who had an orange skittle was sharing about their family in turn around the circle. For example, one could share anything about their family from a fun family tradition they have to how many members their family has. But these girls weren’t just sharing small talk; they were opening up and sharing some of the broken, hurting places inside them.
I was surprised but yet really proud of these girls; they were opening up on a level that would be hard for most people, and here we were in a modest, conservative, save-face culture. I’m excited about the open doors we now have to go deeper in the lives of these girls! I am eagerly anticipating the day when they taste and see that the Lord is good! That He is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made! It’s happening!