At the risk of either sounding too simple or irrelevantly reverent, what I am learning from being a Grace Partner through Neema is really just more about God and the true Gospel as revealed in the Word of God. And I am learning about what a blessing it is to be able to tangibly live it out. Allow me to contend for this.

At first glance, when observing the letters written to and from my Grace Partner, you might just notice a simple, friendly correspondence taking place between two people across the world, on two different continents, from two different cultures. We ask simple questions of each other: “How are you doing?”, “What are you learning?”, etc. We also share pictures, drawings, Bible verses, and prayers. It’s true, from the outside the simplicity of it almost feels like it's nothing of a huge matter. “Anyone can do this!” you might think. And there is certainly truth in that, anyone can.

One student showing her Grace Partner letters and photos to her counselor.

But something far deeper is happening beneath the surface. Though a real and beautiful friendship and love is forming through the tangible means of letter writing and partnership, it is a friendship and love that, I am beginning to see, points to and reflects the One who has had from the beginning a perfect relationship - God Almighty, existing as He is in the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of John 1:1-2 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning”. You see, in the beginning before creation, God existed in a perfect and beautiful relationship where each person of the Holy Trinity lived in unity, purity, and love. We reflect that, even if to the smallest degree, when we become Grace Partners.

But Grace Partnership is even more than a reflection of the Holy Trinity, it is also a real and tangible reflection of the way in which God Almighty longs to restore the broken relationship between man/woman and God back to Himself through His Son Jesus Christ. I’d like to illustrate this with three segments of scripture:

First, the Gospel of John goes on to say in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Second, the Gospel of Luke says, “It is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem”

Third, the second chapter of the book of Philippians describes the character of Jesus like this: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant”

Through these verses we learn that Jesus is the part of God who came and dwelt among us, served us in humility, and then died for us so that we might be restored into right relationship with Him. When we become Grace Partners, we also reflect this beautiful relationship and truth. Every time each of us picks up our pen and paper to write a letter we reflect this by being willing to step out of our own culture and experience, and with the love of God in Christ Jesus, we enter into another person’s culture and experience - just as Jesus Christ stepped out of heaven and entered our world. Grace Partnership, then, is the Gospel lived out! What a privilege it is to be a partaker in all of this!

Befriending a woman in Kenya through letter writing and Grace Partnership has shown me just how powerful and real God Almighty and the Gospel message is. I share the Gospel with my Grace Partner literally and tangibly whenever I send a letter. I also receive the Gospel in return from her, literally and tangibly, when she writes back. It is so beautiful and profound, and it really brings the heavenly restoration that this world so desperately needs. But it is also simple, and truly anyone who wants to love the way Jesus loved and serve the way Jesus served, and anyone who wants to simply live out the Gospel, can do it! These girls are waiting to partner with you in this way, and they are as worth it as we all are to God when Jesus left heaven to dwell among us.

— By Jennie Tornabe, Neema Grace Partner

What I Learned by Befriending a Young Woman in Kenya