Jesus loves the little
children
All the children of the
world
Red, brown, yellow, black
and white
They are precious in His
sight
Jesus loves the little
children of the world.
Nothing makes my heart
happier than to see a child smile.
The past couple of months I
have struggled to put my all into spending time with children at the
orphanages. It has been tough for me to
feel I am pouring everything I have into them and taking advantage of every
moment with each one. But God did
something in me last week as I was preparing my heart for the Philippines; He filled me up so that I am equipped for
what He wants to do through me this month, with His love for the Filipino
people.
Sunday afternoon we had the
opportunity to go to the Children’s Home down the road where 29 kids from the
community without parents live. We went
up and down the streets inviting street kids for a time of playing, a concert,
and singing. Over a hundred kids from
everywhere showed up wanting to have fun and engage with us. So many kids, how should I choose to use this
time?
As soon as I walked through
those gates, God pointed me right to the little girl I should spend most of my
time with. She didn’t have a smile
immediately on her face, but I picked her out and knew she was special. The other girls told me her name was
Riley. Most people in the Philippines
speak a lot of English, but being so young, this little girl didn’t. That didn’t seem to stop the fun time we had
together. Starting with a piggy-back
ride, her face lit up. She loved being on my back, clenching tight with her
arms wrapped around me. Soon we made our
way to the swings where we spent most of our time. Giving her a big push, she swung back and
forth, grinning from ear to ear as I tickled her; I gave another push, and
stole her sandals one at a time making her smile. She loved playing and letting me tease her.
For the first time in
awhile, I felt I was giving all I had and emptying everything into this little
girl; everything God had poured into me.
There were so many other kids around, but He picked me at that time to
love this little girl. We switched to a
horse glider for a little while where Danny gave us a big push. She held on tight to the horse and I held
onto her as we went back and forth. A
huge smile came across her face and it seemed all the fear of being up so high
left her because she knew she was safe in my arms.
I left to watch some of the
boys show me splits and tricks they knew, some older girls make faces begging
me to take their picture, and other kids climb on the monkey bars, while Riley
swung by herself. It didn’t take long
for her to come looking for me with a worried look. When I saw that she seemed lost, I got down
to her level, came up behind her, and surprised her. With a startled , yet relieved smile, she
turned around and put her arms around me.
As our time together came close to an end she pointed to the swings. We
walked over and three pushes later, she was fast asleep.
This reminded me of being in
our Father’s arms. We can trust that no
matter how high we go or how scared we are, He will never let go of us. He loves to hold us and push us back and
forth as we have fun. It is pure joy to
Him as a father to see His children run after Him. We can fall asleep in His arms of protection
and love anytime and He just holds us. He
loves to see the smile of His child!
“Let the little children come to me, and do not
hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ~Matt.19:14
God is our
refuge and strength…
