A SOLUTION FOR OUR RACIAL TENSIONS

The secular world has offered many governmental solutions for our growing racial divide. However, these solutions have not stemmed this divide. Instead, it seems to be growing worse. What then must be done? Helen’s story makes it obvious that the change must begin on the inside (and also from Above) with each one of us:    

I grew up in the Lower East Side of New York City, going to church but not understanding what church or what God was all about. It was just a part of what my family did. Did I really believe? No. I thought it was just a wonderful fairy tale that I wish was really true. But my family and I continued to go to church. Was there a God, and who was this God? I didn’t know. It wasn’t until I got older and I start experiencing life and the FACT was that I was born another color, not white. This is my fact and society didn’t make me feel any better about myself. I grew up not wanting this color but every time I looked in the mirror that’s what I saw, me. Growing up, even as a little girl, I was judged, I was ostracized; I wasn’t chosen because of my color. For other people, if  you were French, Jewish or whatever  if you’re the right color you would fit in and be accepted. You could be transgender or whatever you chose to be and no one would know unless you maybe spoke out and said this is who you are. But I walked around with this color and I didn’t like myself. As a child I  wished  I could’ve  bleached this color and be  made  just like everybody else, then I would feel accepted. But this was me. I didn’t feel loved; nor did I really love myself.  As I got older my question was always, “God, who are You, where are You, what is this (life all about?”  I still hoped that there was a God. I began to believe as I began to read the Bible, even though I didn’t know anything about the Bible, nothing about the word of God. But as I looked into God’s word. He was the only one, the only Being that told me, no matter what I looked like or where I grew up, that I was loved by Him.  So I decided to venture more and find out about this God.

But you know what's weird, what made me believe more in this God, is that I started to understand that this God knew more than me and more than you. When He said in His Word that the earth was a circle, while everyone in the past said that the Earth is flat, I said to myself, “Who is this God who says the earth is a circle and it is?”

When I started to read that this God said, thousands of years ago, to a tribe of people who knew nothing, didn't understand science, and knew nothing about real medical doctors, not to circumcise a child until the 8th day, I began to wonder why would this God had said, “on the eight day.”  Later on I found out that scientists are now saying that the eighth day is when Vitamin K (needed for blood clotting) goes up to a the highest level, and a child can be circumcised, but after that, it starts to drop. When I started to investigate those things it made me wonder who could have known these things. They didn’t have doctors or scientist at that time so it impacted me. So that's why my faith in this God, which I read about, is very important and it’s very real.

So I know today that no matter what I am, I am loved. No matter what what people see me as or think of me, no matter what anyone says, I am loved by God and that’s all that matters. And so what I understand now is that I can love because my God loves me and has taught me and continues to show me how to really love anyone and everyone no matter who or what they are.  There were times that I too would lie. I would lie to cover my skin if necessary. But I came to a time, after my encounter with God, when I understood how wrong lying was, even a “white lie.”  I understood it was wrong because it would either hurt my husband, my family, other people, and it would hurt me. You know why? Because it would stay inside me and it would keep reminding me that there was something that I did that was not truthful, whether God told me in my heart or not. When I began to understand a little more about God, this lesson was reinforced in me.

So that’s my faith, I know there is a God. I know there has to be a Creator who named all the stars, as written in the Book of Job. God names the stars, constellations, etc. Then ask yourself, “Who is this God?”

It is worth finding out; it is worth investigating. Yes, I guess I used to be an agnostic because I went to a church, and I didn’t know anything about God, I didn’t believe anything. I wasn’t sure but as I got older and continued to search, it has become evident inside of me. But that is my faith, what I've come to believe.

As Helen’s teacher, I can readily see that the Lord has brought her a long way. I have been so impressed by her vision and vitality that I just wanted to share her story.