Joyful Spirit

I have a precious nine year old friend at SOZO Kids.  She is one of our regulars and is brought weekly by her grandma.  I don't know much of her story as she has been told she is not allowed to share it.  I only know that she has not lived with either parent in a long time.

This past week, I found myself in the midst of many kids yelling at each other and she was right in the middle of it.  It took a couple of minutes to get everyone to stop and I finally was able to pull her away to a quieter place to talk.  She was very angry and ready to do what she needed to do to defend herself.

Whenever there is anger, I know to look for hurt and fear underneath, so I began to ask her questions.  Her anger soon turned to tears as she shared about how other kids were making fun of her. I asked her if she gets made fun of a lot and the tears became stronger as she shared about the things that she is teased for at school--among those things were her name and her size. She also shared how she doesn't feel like she has very many friends.  

My heart ached talking to her...she has been rejected by so many already at age 9, including her parents.  We talked about the power of forgiveness and that Jesus wanted to heal her heart from all of her hurt.  She began to pray with me, forgiving her friends and schoolmates for the teasing.  She then shared about how she got her name; her dad had sent a message to her mom when she was in labor with her name and that it meant "joyful spirit."  She has clung to this story as a connection to her parents and was so hurt that others make fun of her for it.  With tears in my eyes, I told her that her name is true, that she does have a joyful spirit.  I was also able to communicate God's love for her, that He made her well, and that He loves everything about her.  It was a powerful moment and I really believe the truth penetrated to her heart.

I then asked her if she had anything else in her heart that hurt and she nodded, beginning to share how painful it is to not see her parents.  She let me pray over her and I boldly asked for healing, protection and that she would know she was loved by the God the universe and a Dad that will never leave her side. 

I have had many desperate prayer moments...moments where everything in you aches to see the fulfillment of "on earth as it is in heaven" where the fullness of God's power manifests itself.  This was one of those moments.  The world would say she is on the path to many destructive things based on her life story thus far...I believe that God has purchased life abundant for this joyful spirit and am grateful that I get to be a voice in her life telling her this truth.