I’m back in the states! I hoped to write at least once a week while I was in Colombia, but life got very busy there and my thoughts were going a million miles a minute! Haha, so now that I’m back I want to write about my time there to share with you and also to help me process everything.
So, for starters, for the past month I lived in a drug and rehabilitation center, Ciudad Refugio, in Medellin, Colombia. That sounds scary considering Medellin is known for its drug and gang activity, but Ciudad Refugio was a literal safe haven for me.
I remember the first day we arrived we were given a tour of the foundation and learned how this ministry came to be. Halfway through the tour I was so overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord and how clear it was that His hand was in this that all I wanted to do was place my hand on the wall, pray, and viciously fight down the tears I was having trouble holding back.
The ins and outs of this ministry is incredible. If you have read The Cross and the Switchblade, that’s what this ministry was born after. (side note- if you haven’t read this book you need to stop reading my silly blog right now and just go buy this book hahaha)
I’m not going to do this place justice in describing it with words but here’s my best shot.
Along with being a drug and rehabilitation center, this place houses around 70 homeless people every night, it’s a church (with an incredible youth ministry!!), a bakery, and a home to families and people like me who want to be a part of what the Lord is doing there.
If you see me and ask me how the trip was, I’ll probably say, “It was really hard but really good.” This seems to be my answer every time. It was sobering, life-giving, exhausting, and holy- and I could experience all four of those things in one afternoon haha.
Our day to day looked different but was also kind of consistent. We worked a lot with the women in the rehab program which was my absolute favorite part. It started with us helping them in the kitchen and joining in on their bible studies to many afternoons spent together telling stories, laughing, joking around, and just doing life together. Their stories are filled with grief, but they carry themselves with so much joy and confidence in where the Lord has them right now. The way they talk about Jesus isn’t beautifully manufactured and embellished with the perfect words and ending. It’s real, raw, and to my surprise, so so simple.
What is most profound to me is the healing work of the Lord in these women. Most are there because of drug abuse but there are also women there from prostitution, abusive home lives, or homelessness. Each has a common thread, they aren’t there because their families forced them or because they were placed there against their will. These women experienced Jesus here and because they experienced Jesus, they wanted nothing else than to start this journey of letting Him heal them from the inside out. Stories of redemption, healing power, and radical heart change flow through this place.
Saying goodbye to these women was heart breaking but I’d do it again (hopefully I will get to again one day!). We truly made the best and most fun memories together.
