Togo —
I never knew God would use a coloring book and box of crayons to teach me a lesson about loving my neighbor. Allow me to explain.
Earlier this year, a 12-year-old girl named Jamilla started coming to our house asking for water and the chance to sit on our porch. We didn’t mind giving her water, but she asked with such consistency that it became a bit of a problem. She would knock incessantly on our door and when we answered, she would ask for water. If we said no, she would tell us she was going to continue knocking until we gave her want she wanted. Even if we did give her water, she would often come back almost immediately and start knocking again. Her knocking was becoming a problem and I had no idea what to do about it.
Then I listened to a message by John MacArthur on what it means to show mercy. He said that mercy is seeing someone in need and filling the need. I could tell that Jamilla needed attention and love, but I had no idea how to meet that need.
I began to pray in earnest.
I wanted to love Jamilla but I have to admit, when I thought about her, love wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind. My response was more like, “Uh oh, it’s Jamilla again.” I felt like she could easily begin to monopolize my time if I wasn’t careful, and I had things I needed to accomplish during the day beyond repeatedly serving her water.
Jamilla came to the door one Wednesday morning. Although she didn’t have time to sit with her, my house mate gave her a book to look at on the porch before going about her daily tasks. Jamilla seemed to be quite content and spent several minutes looking through the book. When she was done, I decided to give her a coloring book and some crayons. I told her that she could color two pages and then she would have to go home. Surprisingly, things went pretty well.
The next day Jamilla came back and colored two more pages. I noticed that with each day that she came, I was able to look at her with more and more compassion. Instead of being By Becky Courlis, ABWE missionary in Togo, West Africa Crayons Unquenchable Thirst & F a l l 2 0 0 9 17 annoyed with her, I saw a girl who just seemed very lonely. God began to answer my prayer and gave me a love for her that could only be Heaven-sent.
Jamilla came by recently to do some more coloring. I set her up with the coloring book and got back to cleaning my house. After a few minutes though, I felt like the Lord was telling me to go out and color too. I noticed that Jamilla soon started mimicking the way I colored my picture. Then a friend of hers came to the house and started coloring too. But I guess she wasn’t doing it “properly” so Jamilla showed her how to do it based on what she had seen me doing.
The coloring project reminded me of the verse that says, “Train up your child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not stray from it.” I realize that this verse is not talking about coloring, but I do believe it applies to what Jamilla is learning. After just a few days, she knew that she needed to go home after she colored two pages. And you know what? She does so without a fuss. She even told her friend my rule yesterday when they came over to color.
As my ability to speak the local language (Anufo) increases and Jamilla sees my love for her, I can talk to her about God’s own love. And as she sees me show love to others, she can learn how to multiply love to others in her own ways. As I give her guidelines for how to act at my house, I can talk to her about God’s rules and the consequences for not obeying them. I can reach out to her family through reaching out to Jamilla. I pray that ultimately the Lord would use me to bring her and her family to Him in faith through Jesus Christ.
How amazing for the Master Artist to use a box of crayons to paint a picture of His love.
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