Working for the second and third year programs allows me to see many different ways Jesus is working. This week I had the pleasure of attending a fancy vision casting tea party for Beauty for Ashes (a women’s ministry within the Kingdom Journeys program). The attendees (apart from myself) were women blessed with an abundance of financial giving power.
We sat together and learned about how this curriculum has changed lives for some of the most impoverished women around the world.
The curriculum of Beauty for Ashes seems to bring everyone down to an elementary level of interaction with the simplicity of drawing pictures with crayons. The pictures serving as a mental map for story telling. Throughout the sessions of a Beauty for Ashes retreat women are prompted to draw pictures of memories and then verbally share those stories by explaining the pictures. Through this layers are pulled back and hearts are opened. Weight is beginning to be taken off of the women through vulnerability and acceptance. Freedom becomes reality through the compassion, peace, love and understanding of allowing the Spirit to work in the space and hearts present.
That Thursday morning I got to witness how this idea of picture drawing transcends cultures, languages, and financial barriers as these prestigious women took 10 minutes to draw their own pictures and tell of their own stories and perspectives. The door to healing was cracked, room was made for vulnerability, and the compassion of Jesus was felt.
As the director of Beauty for Ashes states: “We may seem drastically different but we all hold a crayon the same way!”
