Letter to Prayer Coordinators for Session #8, August 3-8, 10th-12th Grade
Dear Prayer Coordinators,
"It's been a long 15 years," Jenn told me as we
began our one-on-one, then for the next 30 minutes she shared her story with me. Jenn grew up in a home with a father who was highly physically abusive. Jenn told me how as a little girl she had seen her father holding her mother
up against a wall, choking her to near death. Jenn, who is a petite
confident spit-fire, stood up to her father and fought him in her mother's
defense. Sadly, this was not the only time when Jenn was in a physical fight
with her father. As a result of his abusive actions, Jenn's father was in
and out of jail for most of her life. During the times when he was out of jail, Jenn's father tried to control her; he would lock her inside the house and
screwdriver her windows shut to prevent her from leaving. Jenn would escape
by hiding screwdrivers in her pillow and other inconspicuous areas and sneak
out when her father was not home.
She would stay away from home for months at a
time telling her mother, "If he's there, I'm not coming back." Jenn found ways of living on her own, and made friends with people of whom
even her abusive father was afraid. She became so accustomed to being on her
own that by the time the police attempted to get involved and remove her from
her living situations, Jenn ran away and hid out in another county of CA for
3 months. When she finally came home to see her mother whom she loves dearly,
the police found her and placed her in the foster care system.
Jenn now lives in a foster home with five other teen
girls. While she is no longer in an abusive home, her situation is far from
ideal, but her fear of being placed in a worse situation prevents her from
asking to be moved to another home. My heart ached for Jenn. I longed so
badly for her to know Jesus, and throughout the week continually sought ways to
point her to Christ. Jenn's attitude throughout the week was indifferent and
on multiple occasions she told me things like, "I don't need God; I'll
just do me."
During out last one-on-one, over a game of ping-pong, I laid
the whole gospel out before her, telling her that I didn't want to keep nagging
her but that I knew how important it is to know Jesus and receive His
salvation, and I urged her to seriously think about it. In an attempt to help
her understand the gift that Christ offered her on the cross, I placed my
wristwatch on the ping-pong table and told her that it was now hers. She picked
it up with an uncertain look on her face and lightly held it in her hand as I
explained to her how similar receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross is to
receiving her new watch - if she hadn't picked it up, the watch would have laid
on the table - a wasted gifted, just as to not receive Christ's salvation is to
waste the greatest gift ever offered to her. When she realized that I
wasn't just making an example but truly gave my watch to her, she placed it on
her wrist with a smile and I could tell that she really appreciated it, and I
saw her using it throughout the rest of the day.
At the end of camp, Jenn wrote me a letter which said,
"I'll take everything you taught me and use it later in life...thanks for
all the talks and helping me understand Jesus, I'll look into it. I wanna know
more about him." And I trust that as we pray for her, that God will turn Jenn's someday "later in life" into a day much, much sooner and
that by His grace, she will come to know Him and receive His great gift. Thank
you for your prayers for Jenn and for all of your faithful prayers
throughout the summer, they've been an invaluable gift to us!
Blessings and Love,Jessica NathanSummer Staff 2015
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