Native Studies

It's so weird, all the courses that I take where I know I am going to be challenged and have to work so insanely hard in are the ones that I always think about dropping and then later they end up being the ones I remember the most, the ones I learn the most from. Native Studies is definitely one of those, just like Women's Studies was last semester. I just finished reading a whackload of pages all about the Residential Schools and oh my goodness did they make me almost cry so many times - why are we so brutal to other people who are just like us, made of skin and bones, and most importantly possessing a heart with the capacity to love and be loved...but yet there are and were those in places of authority who used their power to abuse and administer unneccessary punishment rather than encourage and teach children how to live in a 'civilized world.'

It makes me so sick to read about all the horrible things that Native children had to endure as a result of the government and church's joint decision to educate the 'savages' into people suitable for the new European 'civilized' world. The worst part is that the church had the power to stop this brutality, but they turned a deaf ear and ignored the reports of what was happening at the schools, even though they knew it was true. What kind of a message does that send to the children who went to those schools...probably not a message of a God who loves them so much that He gave His only Son to die for them...

Oh Jesus would you please heal and restore this generation of people who have been so hurt by those who committed horrendous acts in your name and in the name of the church. Would you soften their hearts and surround them with people who actually love them with your love, people who will walk through life alongside them and reveal to them who You really are - most of all Jesus, would you let them know they are and can be free from their past, from addictions and from whatever chains are holding them captive. Just like in Isaish 61, would you set the captives free and proclaim peace to those who are torn by bitterness inside.

Oh God would you heal and restore our nation, I pray for peace and restoration between the different cultural groups that exist in Canada, would you revive us from our place of complacency and mediocrity - Jesus would you wake us up from our spiritual lethargy. God I thank you for sending your Spirit, may we truly turn from our sins and repent of our sins (2 Chronicles 7:14), purify us oh Jesus as gold refined in the fire...that we may live, like really live and walk in your kingdom everyday.

Oh that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him! (Hosea 6:3)

Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the people turn from thier wicked deeds. Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)