As the Noah drove back down the tree lined entrance to the squatter camp I was overcome with sadness I hadn't felt before. We had just finished our last day of ministry at the camp, but something was different. The typical smiles that greeted us were missing; the boys who typically clung to us didn't even look at us. And the girls who normally would jump at the chance to play with our hair weren't anywhere to be seen.
I picked up a small boy. He didn't have a shirt, he was dirty and his teeth were rotted out, but he had my heart right away. He put his head on my shoulder and snuggled up. As I began to pray for the camp and the people who lived there, tiny tears began to fall from his eyes. I don’t know why, but I knew in that moment he just needed some love. He needed to cry on someone who wouldn’t turn him away. He quickly fell asleep and I spent the rest of the time there praying for the little man in my arms. Praying that he would have a meal that night, praying that he feel loved and grow to know the love of the Father.
The tiny tears that fell on my shoulder that day were a reminder of the innocence that needed to be reclaimed, an innocence that only the Lord could take back. That day was different not because the kids weren’t out in full force. It was different because my eyes were opened to the hold the enemy had on that place. I looked at the kids and saw the light each one carried slowly growing dim. With each puff of a cigarette, fight with their drunken dad or day without food there childhood was slipping away far to quickly.
I have never wanted the spirit to fall on a place more than the squatter camp. It is such a beautiful place filled with beautiful people, who don’t recognize their beauty. The lies of the enemy have taken a toll and erased the childlike innocence.
But there is hope. There is a light that can’t grow dim. And He is chasing his children. Praise Him who brings the light.
“You O Lord, keep my lamp burning, My God turns my darkness into light “ Psalm 18:28
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them: I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16
