“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
-Hebrews 13:2
How will I know when an angel graces me with their presence?
There are many strangers in this world; so how will I know
When Heaven itself descends and settles before me?
Will I know them by their majesty?
Will I fall on my knees in awe of their beauty?
Will I know them by their eyes, full of truth and peace?
Will I know them by the way they speak?
Confidently, assuredly, with conviction and urgency in a manner that commands authority?
Will I know them by the messages they bear, straight from the Creator of all?
Or will I know them by their struggle to survive inside a world that is not fit to carry them?
Will I know them by their discomfort in a world that shuns them, rejecting all manner of God’s light and His omniscience?
Will I know them by their heartbreaks, having to witness all of creation groaning together in the pains of childbirth that Paul speaks so clearly of in Romans?
I have walked with angels in this life.
I have witnessed their glorious presence. I have been awed by their resplendent joy.
I have called them by their names, and I have seen them surviving in a world that refuses to acknowledge their significance.
I have walked the gardens of Eden in the cool of the evening, asking the Lord where His mercy is in a world in which angels are discarded to the side, thrown out of homes, left for dead on the streets by those who are meant to care for them.
“My children know my name,” He responded simply, “They hear my voice.”
I walked beside Him, my footsteps falling short of His everlasting strides, and I asked again, “But why must they suffer so much condemnation, so much rejection, so much shame?”
“My children know my name,” He repeated, patiently, “They hear my voice.”
During my month living in a care home for the mentally challenged in South Africa, I lived with 110 strangers that I came to love, and cherish in a way that I didn’t realize was possible before then.
It was only after witnessing their struggle to survive in a country and a culture which chooses to pretend they don’t exist, and it was only after experiencing my heart break repeatedly for the suffering they have done throughout their lives, that I realized we were actually entertaining angels, heavenly beings made complete and whole with an eternal purpose, instead of broken humans with dysfunctional minds.
Never before had I so clearly seen God and all of His imminent glory and eternal omnipotence than I did in the faces of these angels. Never before had I so clearly looked into faces that truly comprehended Heaven before I looked into their faraway eyes, and saw their blurry smiles.
Their thoughts are not on things of this world; they are lost in the presence of God. The Holy Spirit overwhelms them, and I was in awe of their constant communion with the Lord in a way that I will never see this side of glory.
Their lives on this earth are difficult, burdened with discord, rejection and utter heartbreak. They have been handed cards that seem unfair and at times I was overcome with despair at the colossal weight these beautiful beings are called to carry, day in and day out, for years upon years on end.
But the Lord, my God, is faithful. He has granted them access to His presence in ways we can only dream of, and I am absolutely certain that while He may be speaking to all of His children 100% of the time, these particular children are gifted with the clarity to hear him 100% of the time, too. This is something else that I will never fully understand, and even though I grapple with the brokenness of this world and I struggle to receive the truth that they face such prejudice every single day, I must remember what He spoke to me that night in the garden.
They are His children. They hear His voice.
We must protect His children. We must honor His children, we must rejoice at the exquisiteness of the way that He created these children, and we must fight for them because sometimes they are not able to fight for themselves.
Please join me in praying for the nation of South Africa, that they will no longer throw their citizens onto the streets because of mental disabilities. Please pray for the churches of South Africa, that they too will stop ignoring their responsibility to aid and bring shelter to these beautifully gifted angels that are undeniably made in His image, no matter what a broken society deems as whole or complete.
Please pray for our friends at Eden Ministries, that they would continually be cared for in mighty ways by the Lord. That meals and mattresses and finances and staff would continually be provided as He has never failed to provide since day one, and please pray that He would not only provide enough for them to get by, but that He would bless them insurmountably in the coming months.
Thanks for reading.
