Penninah

“Come to me with a teachable spirit, eager to be changed.”

This is the very first line of the book, Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young, that Penninah is holding up in the photo.

What a powerful message for the first day of January in a book! It’s a call from Jesus to be teachable and to be eager. And Penninah possesses both of those qualities. Like the other girls at Rahab’s Corner in Uganda.

Imagine being a destitute young girl living in a slum, resorting to whatever it takes to make money to buy food to survive. Imagine the fear, the shame, the guilt, the loneliness.

What I absolutely love about Rahab’s Corner is that it’s not a halfway house, a mere stopover before transitioning back into society. No, it’s Jesus’s home! It’s as if the Savior Himself gives personal invitations in the nicest stationery to these girls to

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Rahab’s Corner is place of rest.

A place to have burdens lifted.

And a place to learn from Jesus Himself.

A typical day starts early with work to clean and prepare meals for the day. To have devotions where they meet their Lord, pray for one another, and give hope to one another. While working or playing, they repeat out loud what they learned in devotions. The girls can be heard singing the Christian songs they learned earlier in the day throughout the day. Burdens are lifted through prayer and counseling. Life skills and job skills are learned and applied. Exercise and ball sports cause clouds of laughter and cheers to rise with the dust from the barren, new play area.

Rahab’s Corner may not be heaven, dear friends. But it’s a taste of heaven, because JESUS lives there.

After all, it is His home.

~~~

The Lord has anointed me…

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

    instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

    instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

    instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

    a planting of the Lord

    for the display of his splendor.

                  ~ Isaiah 61:1-3