Last year, by God’s divine intervention, I was connected with Centrul Puls, a pro-life pregnancy crisis center that serves many young women from neighboring Roma villages. On Thursday, I was able to visit again and share my testimony and the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was a young lady who came in a few minutes late. I hardly noticed her during the time I talked with the group. I asked the women multiple times if they had any questions for me, and offered to sit with them one on one if they wanted. It was quiet, and a bit awkward, and then the ladies started getting up to eat.
A few minutes went by and then I notice the same young lady with tears flowing down her cheeks. I approached her with the director of Centrul Puls and a counselor. She began to share her own testimony with us, though I’m not sure she realized at the time that is what she was doing. Her name was Alona and she told us that she didn’t plan to come to Centrul Puls that day. She didn’t have transportation, but she woke up that morning feeling compelled to come the meeting. So, she hitch hiked from her village and then took a taxi once she got to Oradea. Alona’s testimony and mine shared may commonalities related to foregiveness, a tough childhood and broken family relationships. This is not to say my life compares at all to the hardships Alona has been through, but I fully believe God compelled her to come because he knew we needed to meet. He used both of us to help each other. I’ll never be the same person after meeting Alona, and I believe she was transformed while we sat and talked.
I prayed with Alona, and asked God to give her the strength to forgive as Jesus has covered our sin and the sin of those that have sinned against us. I shared 1 Timothy 1:15. I prayed for God to give her peace from her nightmares, and the courage to live in the moment, to let her past remain behind her and to not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Alona cried, and continued to share very personal details about her childhood and her current circumstance. I cried along with her, and continued to tell her how brave she was for sharing. The counselor told me this was a breakthrough moment for Alona as they had been working for a long time to help her get to this point.
As we continued to talk, Alona said she believed she was ready to give her life to Christ and be baptized. The Director and counselor spoke with her to be sure she understood the gospel. I read her a poem I had written prior to our arrival, called “Let the Light In”. She hugged me so tightly and thanked me for coming to Centrul Puls. By the end of the conversation, Alona shared she felt lighter, she was smiling, we hugged and I promised to pray for her always.
After such a challenging trip to Romania, and continued obstacles once we got here, to see God move in Alona’s heart was exactly what I needed to change my heart attitude and to serve God with thanksgiving for the remainder of our time here.
Monday, Alona will return to Centrul Puls to find out the gender of her 9th child. If it is a boy, and she believes it is, she plans to name him Emmanuel, “God with us”. Please pray for Alona, her husband and her children. Pray that they will get to remain together and that her love for Christ will be a way to break the generational sin that has impacted her in so many terrible ways.
