I want you all to know that I’m using this blog to share stories of love and hope in the people I meet along the journey. This, by no means, is intended to make you feel pity for those I’m writing about, but how the Lord uses poverty and loss to bring redemption and restoration.
Life in the Philippines is wonderful and difficult and thrilling and exhausting in every possible way.
Each morning feels like the beginning of a new adventure, whether it’s spent holding a beautiful baby at the orphanage across the street or making friends at a safehouse for girls that have been victims of abuse.
Living here is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
Little kids on the street run up and grab my hand, asking to be picked up.
Families welcomed me into their homes as I just walked by.
These people are so filled with joy that you can see how genuinely they feel God’s love in their lives.
I’ve felt them love with their whole hearts, especially with one little girl I met.
She lives at the girls’ safehouse. As we spent time together, she began to open up more and more. Today she shared her story with me. She expressed how she had been hurt and grew up feeling alone.
She lost her brother. Her father wasn’t a father to her. She spent years in an orphanage before she moved into the safehouse.
This little girl felt pain. You could see it as she spoke, but she was not discouraged. She gave her testimony with hope and happiness because she recognized God’s hand in her life.
Loneliness she dealt with was replaced with the love she felt from Jesus.
Shame transformed into courage that she can fight through rough times.
I can’t find words to display this little girl’s strength she found in darkness. The only explanation she gave is God. That’s the only plausible answer for her radiating joy.
If this region of the world has taught me anything, it’s that God is good. He is a Father to me as well as to all of His other children.
The Lord is breaking my heart every day and helping me find beauty in adversity.
