Working through the process with Nnena to choreograph a
dance drama rekindled the vision of why Beautiful Me started. It’s about healing and wholeness. As we
created the soundtrack, finding the right traditional African rhythm to match
each character and their role in the life of the main dancer (Nnena), I saw and
felt the violence, the pain, the healing.
Tears many times blurred my screen as I visualized the abusive “uncle”
next door, the angry, accusing mother (danced by me), the lies girls tell
themselves about their bodies. Then I
got to enter, as the guy who our torn and tattered girl comes to love and loves
her. We broke out from traditional African dance to Salsa, romantic and
joyful…until she shows me her “heart” (represented by a white flower whose
petals had been removed by abusers in her life). I refused it…I walked away… only to return,
bring her to her knees before God, help hold her up, and participate in her
healing.
It is my longing for every woman who has been battered to
have people in their lives who will help them come to restoration in Christ.
It’s my deepest desire that the mothers who came on Saturday and
witnessed this dance and a number of other skits and activities, would start a
journey to healing and guarding their girls. We discussed how we guard
each other’s hearts, how the heart and body are connected, and brought into the
light issues of sexual and physical abuse.
Please pray for these mother’s and daughters as they
continue to reflect on these things.
Based on the activity of declaring before each other “what I will do to
guard my daughter’s heart” it was clear that some messages were not
understood. I am pleading before the
Lord to open eyes, and make soft what has been hardened by years of pain and
lies.
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