All things come of thee, O LORD, and of thine own have we given thee. –
1 Chronicle 29: 14.

O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.-Pslam 34:8

On this special day I want to give thanks specifically for a teenage girl that I most likely won’t be writing about for the next coming months. She is not someone that we have any close ties with it at the present moment. In fact, it is hard to imagine being her friend at this present moment. This is precisely why I am writing about her. She is a symbol of the good things God has been doing in our life. I would say that this is the greatest miracle that we experienced in our ministry here. Teens and children that we thought would be least likely to become our friends end up playing a valuable role in our lives. It is not unlike the first miracle of turning water into wine. Perhaps, this would be the best way to describe it. We want to give thanks to God for turning all our water relationships into fine wine.

Her name is Angelina, at least, this is what we think. It is almost impossible to get a clear answer from her. She is always mad at someone or something. There is always a crisis. She makes sure that everyone knows it with her loud ear piercing complaints. However, we are not entirely sure if this is an attention seeking mechanism. Let’s just say that she is absolutely bonkers. This was my first reaction. Her behavior is so bizarre that all of us including the children and teens just stand there and watch her antics. She thinks that everything is crisis. Most likely, this has been a reality for her all her life. We can see her scars clearly. They are displayed before the world. In many places, she would be shunned. People would be afraid to deal with her. However, the children and teens are not like the world. They made room for her. They are sensitive to her pain. It is not easy for them because she is truly an awkward person. Nevertheless, they share an affinity with her pain. It is clear that her life has been a life of abuse and neglect so much so that she is unable to have a decent conversation with anyone. The children have accepted her for who she is. On the other hand, we are still learning to do this. Mary asked me what I thought about her. I don’t have an opinion because it is hard to say something concretely about someone I don’t understand. Regardless of this, one thing is for sure. It is possible that one day she will become very dear to us. For this, I want to give thanks.

It is not wishful thinking. It has happened before. When we first Alex, he was a strange and awkward person. He would never acknowledged our presence or even answered our questions. We used to think that he was impossible. Things have changed. He is one of our dearest teens. Nowadays, we can hear him yelling out our names a mile away. He has a habit of calling us, “Aunty Mary” collectively. He has had a hard time saying my name spontaneously. My name is not a common name in Brazil. Recently, there is another girl that we never imagined that would be our friend. Her name is Erica. She met her when we first came back to this ministry more than six years ago. She was the first child we visited in a juvenile detention center. Then, she was a closed and proud young girl. She did not believe that she needed anyone’s help. Even after she was released from the center, she would hardly speak to us. It has been five years since she had a decent conversation with us. Now, she is 19. Recently, she has been coming to us asking questions about our relationships. She is curious about our lives and wanted to know what we did when we are free and who cooks in the home. We never knew that she bothered about our existence. Today in particular, we spent the whole day with her. She wanted us to accompany her to get some documents. She did everything on her own but she just wanted some adults with her. At the end of the day, we actually confessed to each other that we never imagined a spending a day with Erica and then saying that it was a wonderful and fruitful day. It was something that we never thought would ever happen.

Angelina seems like a person that would never be able to have a friendship with us. This is why I want to give thanks for her life. I know that one day she will be someone dear to us. She is “water” to us now but Jesus is going to open our eyes and see that she is really wine. He has done these countless of times. Each time we taste the fruits of His miracle, we cannot help but we amazed that He has saved the best for last.

I give thanks for everyone that God sends to us; no matter how broken or bonkers they may appear to us, they are God’s special gifts. No matter what the circumstances are, nothing can change this fact. They are special gifts from God. Sometimes we need God to do a miracle in our hearts to see that the water is really wine.