“So what do you think?” Tony asked us. Our team of 7 standing there, wondering with anticipation of what it might mean if we were to say, “yes.” Tony continued, “Let’s take the idea back to the gang on the property. We’ll have a meeting when we get back today and see what everyone thinks.”
I’ve spent the last 4 weeks in Nicaragua, but there’s a story left from Honduras that’s burning within me to be told. World Racers love blogging the completed stories of the miraculous things they become a part of while traveling the world seeking the face of God in the eyes of strangers. This isn’t one of those stories. At least not yet.
So, what was Tony’s idea? Adopting Kena for 3 weeks, a 13 year old girl living in the dumps of La Kennedy. We’d take her in, give her responsibilities, spend time with her, and let her see what life outside of La Kennedy looked like.
Take her in we did. My teammate, Jeanette, literally took her into her tent, giving her a place to sleep while she stayed with us.
We did her hair, played soccer, taught her words in English, colored, sang and danced, had sleepovers, let her help cook in the kitchen, and comforted her when the boys on the property were…boys…and picked on her.
She began to flourish under our care and the care of Zion’s Gate. She laughed and smiled and brought energy everywhere she went. Kena was doing so well that we decided it’d be great if she came with us to Gracie’s for our 4 day stay with Heart of Christ ministries. So she did! Again she amazed us with her desire to dive into work, build relationships with the girls–rape and abuse victims–at Gracie’s, and even take wisdom and discipline from Gracie herself. She hugged and loved us all well, always wanting to spend more time with us.
When we got back to Zion’s Gate after our few days at Gracie’s, we told Tony about how wonderful Kena did there and how we hoped there could be a way for us to get her there for a more permanent stay. Tony’s property, Zion’s Gate, is not yet staffed in a way where they feel adequate to take girls in full time, so we prayed this would be the solution everyone was looking for. She could be Gracie’s little apprentice. A mentorship she’d surely never forget.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see or hear about plans of this coming true. A couple of days after returning from Gracie’s and just a couple of more days before leaving Honduras for Nicaragua, Kena decided she didn’t want to stay at Zion’s Gate anymore. Her reasons for leaving aren’t important. What is important is that this is where her story stands today.
What do you do when the story doesn’t go the way it’s supposed to? When the job you were supposed to get goes to someone else? When the one you were supposed to marry doesn’t say, “I do.”? When the long awaited pregnancy ends in miscarriage? Or when the girl who’s supposed to get a second chance at life decides she doesn’t want it? Is there another job, another one & only, another baby? Is there always another chance?
This is where her story stands, but it doesn’t have to be where her story stays.
“Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away, instead, He devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from Him.” (2 Samuel 14:14)
I know God is working out a way. He’s carefully and perfectly devising a way to bring Kena back to Him. Our spilt glass of water is nothing to the King of the Universe.
