As you may have seen here in this painting, part of the vision we have for the women here is for them to FLY. What I mean by FLY is that as they come to know the truth of who they are in Jesus, that they then realize their God given gifts and talents, and that they FLY as they do exactly what He has created them to do.
A few weeks ago this desire for the women was taught to me hands-on by a baby sparrow that was born on our property. As we were in our backyard as a family, we noticed Baby Bird. She was all alone, and was bravely trying to get our attention. She certainly was getting the attention of our new kitty Ruthie, and we quickly realized that was not a good thing.
Baby Bird couldn't FLY. We didn't know if she was injured, if she had just fallen out of the nest by accident, or if her mama had rejected her. However, we soon realized that her mama would swoop down and feed her--so she was not rejecting her. She just needed some help.
Not knowing what to do, we went next door to our very sweet 80 year old neighbors (and farmers) for some advice. We took Baby Bird with us, in a little box. Although they thought Baby Bird was certainly cute, they told us the best thing we could do would be to place her out in the wild so she could die.
Funny thing is, that as soon as they said that, Baby Bird jumped out of the box right onto my arm, as if to say, "Not me! I am not going to be left to die. I just need a little help."
It is amazing to me how quick people are to let the weak die. Just forget them. Don't waste your time on them. Don't have hope. Just place them away somewhere so they can die.
Of course I've gotten this response from people regarding the women I serve: Why are you trying to help them? They don't want your help. They have chosen prostitut--n as a profession and they are happy doing it. Just leave them alone. It's their choice!
My interpretation: Leave them alone. Let them die.
We came home to learn from my husband that he'd read on the internet to try to find the bird's nest, and in case she may have fallen out, to try and get Baby Bird as close to it as possible. We looked in the area where we'd found her, and sure enough, we found her nest--with two of her sibllings inside. We found a hanging basket, and hung it inches away from the nest.
Having read that baby birds need to eat every 20 minutes, my daughter and I dug into the dirt and immediately found worms for Baby Bird. As you can see in the picture above, I fed them to her and she gobbled them up. Then we left the area to see what would happen.
Baby Bird sat on the edge of the basket, all proud, looking up to her siblings as if to say, "I don't know how to get back in the nest, but I'm NOT giving up."
Mama Bird came by, and hours later when we looked, somehow Baby Bird had made it back into the nest. Two days later, I popped my head into the nest. All three baby birds looked at me in shock, and all three took flight. They were ready, if they had known it or not, to do what God created them to do.
Helping Baby Bird FLY was so easy. All we had to do was help her in the only way we knew how. It wasn't belabored or complicated. All we needed was a little hope for her that she would find her way back home and that she would learn to do what she was created to do.
For me, it made me realize that when the Lord brings women here, we will not need to belabor over the fact of how to help these women FLY. All we need to do is our part, the only way we know how, and with God's help, she will FLY. She will do and be all that God has created her to be.
She will FLY!
"Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself...
a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty,
my King and my God."
-Psalm 84:3
