Humanity Was Made for More: The Women of Hoima

They came from villages across Hoima. Some traveled together in trucks, while others walked for hours simply to be there. Many of the women carried stories that were difficult to hear—stories of abuse, violence, sexual assault, abandonment, hardship, and treatment that attempted to strip them of their dignity. Yet when they arrived, we did not encounter women defined only by what had happened to them. We encountered women who still worship Jesus. Women who still forgive. Women who still pray. Women who still laugh, dance, raise their children, serve their communities, and press forward. Their lives reminded us of Jesus' words in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Looking across that gathering, the words Humanity Was Made for More felt less like something we say and more like something we were witnessing. What tried to steal from these women did not get the final word over their lives.

For four days, we had the privilege of supporting Pastor Betty, her husband, and their ministry as they continue taking the Gospel into rural communities throughout Hoima. They created the space and brought women together, and we were honored to come alongside what they have faithfully been building. We preached and taught, prayed and ministered, and witnessed moments of deliverance, repentance, healing, freedom, and renewed dignity. But some of the most sacred moments happened beyond the preaching. We broke bread together. We worshiped and danced. We laughed until we could simply enjoy one another. We cried together. Our children played together. We prayed for one another and listened to stories. Somewhere along the way, the lines between those who had come to minister and those who had come to receive began to disappear. We were simply sisters sitting together in the presence of Jesus, each of us giving and each of us receiving.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Freedom was in the air in Hoima.Not because every painful circumstance suddenly disappeared, but because we witnessed women discovering again that what was done to them does not own them. Their dignity was given by God and cannot ultimately be taken away by another human being. Their past does not have greater authority than the blood of Jesus. Their wounds are real, but so is the Redeemer who meets them there. Across those four days, the Spirit of Jesus seemed to weave through everything—the preaching and the prayers, the tears and the laughter, the worship and the meals, the deliverance and the dancing. We went to Hoima believing we had something to impart, but these women ministered deeply to us too. They showed us what it looks like to have endured much and still choose Jesus, to have reasons for bitterness and still pursue forgiveness, and to have known brokenness while refusing to surrender hope. We left Hoima with an even deeper conviction: humanity was made for more—more than what has happened to us, more than what others have called us, and more than simply surviving. In Jesus, there is dignity, freedom, belonging, and life.