We’ve all heard the saying, “Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.” I think we can rightfully adapt it to say, “Be careful what you pray for because God just might answer it.”
“Lord, break our hearts for what breaks yours!”
How many of you have ever sang or prayed this? I have. Multiple times. Well let me tell you, the Lord is answering that prayer in my life.
In Puerto Rico, we worked at a soup kitchen for the homeless. After we were done with work for the day, we would go home to our beds, showers, and our fully-stocked fridge.
In Ecuador, we went downtown one night and spent some time with prostitutes. We bought them some chocolate and asked them about their stories. We wrote down several of their names and prayed for them when we returned home.
In Honduras, we cooked spaghetti and rice and took it to the city trash dump. There we got to give the food along with water to the people who dig through the trash to find food or things to recycle.
I’ll be really honest and tell you that I have lived a somewhat sheltered life. You don’t have to leave the country to find brokenness, poverty, or need. Those things exist everywhere.
But I am seeing things like this for the first time this year, and when you see them with your own eyes, something happens inside of you:
Helplessness. It all seems so overwhelming, what could I possibly do to make a difference?
Sadness. My heart really just hurts sometimes because of the need I see all around me.
Anger. How could everyone back home (myself, my friends, my family included) live in such abundance, when so many here have so little?
Guilt. Why was I lucky enough to be born into a family that has the means to provide not only my needs but also my wants? Why weren’t these people so lucky?
Dependence. I don’t have the answers. I don’t have the resources to help everyone I meet. But I serve a God who does. I serve a God who looks at brokenness and poverty, and his heart breaks. I serve a God who deeply loves each and every person on this earth.
I was talking about this with another missionary the other day, and he made the comment, “It’s like eating an elephant, you have to take it one bite at a time.”
The truth is, I can’t give the all of the homeless a place to call home. Although we had great conversations with the prostitutes, it is likely that some of them are still on the streets. And while we provided lunch for those living and working in the dump, they will become hungry again.
I’m not the first to face this: Jesus fed the five thousand, but they surely needed to eat the next day too. He brought Lazarus back from the dead, but later he died again.
The best we can do is our best. We are called to love, we are called to share the gospel, and we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We can’t take that lightly, but we also have to recognize that we are not called to fix every problem in the world.
We have to do something. But the things that are out of our hands, we have to give over to God, trusting that He knows how to care for and love his children.
