Transformation from Darkness to Light

Binta is a small, fiesty, mother of three boys and a wife to one of our church members.  When I first met her two years ago, my first impression was that she was a tiny, little lady that seemed nice, but was quite shy.  As the days went on and I got to know her a little better I quickly realized she was much more than that. She may be small in size but she is quick with her temper and wasn't shy about letting it be seen.  I had seen her beat her children many times and my children had witnessed her attempt to slam a wooden stool into her husband's head (she missed).  She had been beaten by her husband many times and when you looked into her eyes they were dark and lacking of life.  Her children also were filled with anger and often were beating up on other children.

Her story doesn't end there, she is also from one of the poorest families in our village.  In fact, her immediate family, (her husband and her with their children) do not even have their own house. They have one room in her brother-in-law's house.  As if this is all not difficult enough, Binta has struggled getting pregnant and has had many miscarriages.  She has suffered much, as have so many women in Guinea Bissau.

Binta has been coming to church for a long time and has heard the Word of the Lord but had not committed her life to Christ.  Her husband is a believer, and has made many mistakes along the way. Binta is a woman that needs Christ and she has finally made the choice to give her life over to Jesus.  A little over a year ago Binta sat in front of our church congregation and confessed her life of sin and committed to live her life for Christ.  Her transformation has not been a small one.  She is a dramatically different person today.  She speaks with love and kindness.  She reminds her children of God's Word through her disciplining. I have seen her endure another woman insulting her and speaking badly to her and she did nothing.  It reminded me of when Jesus was beaten and spit in the face and he did nothing in return.

One day I was sitting with Binta on a bench outside of a house on her compound when her four year old son and his cousin got into a fight.  The two boys proceeded to start punching each other but quickly stopped when Binta called to them to come to her.  They slowly came over, possibly anticipating a beating, and when they got to us, Binta gently spoke to them and asked them to tell her what Jesus says about hitting others when they hit you.  Her son slowly lifted his eyes up to meet his mom's eyes and started to quote a Bible verse. She then asked them to apologize to each other, which they did, and then they walked off with their arms wrapped around each other as if nothing ever happened. Binta had been transformed.  She was no long filled with anger and hatred, but is filled with love and compassion.  She has the fruits of the Spirits and they are overflowing out of her.  

A few weeks ago we had a women's Bible study and I used Binta's life as an example.  The other women there all nodded their heads in agreement and the oldest woman there, Mama Mane, kept repeating "Amen" over and over and saying it was true. I used the example of how Binta treated her children before she was a Christian and how she treats her children today. This is what Christ can do.  Christ can transform our lives to reflect him.  I think of Galatians 5:22,23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  When we are true believers, our lives should reflect these fruits of the spirit and that is exactly what Binta's life does. 

We can only praise God for this transformation.  She is an example to all of us and we pray that she will continue to grow in the Lord.  

Binta collecting salt dirt from the dried up rice fields.

Today, Binta works for us by cleaning our house Monday - Friday. This little bit of money helps her to be able to buy fish and a little bit of vegetables for their daily rice dish, pay for schooling for her boys and buy clothes for her family. She enjoys interacting with our children daily and our children call her mom. When they see her they run into her arms and she interacts with them much like Michael and I do. When she is at our house if she sees one of our kids goofing off during school hours she will ask them if they should be doing school.  Our children have many moms here...we aren't sure how much they like it, but we sure love it!

Our children have enjoyed playing pranks on her with a toy lizard friends sent over for them.  Our children will hide it in different places just to hear her yelp and run. We all bust up laughing and then she ends up laughing along with us. She also enjoys it when we have baked a cake.  She loves the baking we do in our house as well as the occasional delicious American breakfast.  Her favorite is Amish baked oatmeal. Binta is a part of our family. 

I have been blessed to see this transformation in her life.  Binta is illiterate and will probably never be able to read, but her faith is real and she is growing in her walk with Christ every day.