I woke up this morning at 7am, with the prayer “please Lord, please” running through my head. I don’t know how to love a bunch of strangers, when I’m a non-Spanish-speaking gringa who can’t relate. I feel completely inadequate, but fortunately this morning I remembered that I serve my Lord, who is bigger than language barriers, bigger than my inability to relate, bigger than my inadequacies. In fact, He has provided me with everything I need to be able to do what He has called me to do (Hebrews 13:21). So my “please Lord, please” was acknowledging all this, but I could find no real words or specific requests. Just please Lord, please do Your thing.
And before I knew it, we were off to Hogar Crea, a rehabilitation center for recovering drug addicts, many of whom are in trouble with the law. My first surprise upon arrival was how many people spoke/understood English, though I had ample opportunity to struggle through Spanish communication. We met some men who shared their stories with us and some who did not feel comfortable opening up at all.
I got to go with my squad leader (a nurse) to the bedside of a man with bone cancer in his hip. They asked if she would do some wound care for his bed sores, and they asked me to help with passive range of motion for his hip. His pain was so severe with any movement that I chose not to move him more than was needed just for the wound care. I learned that Q-tip and Foley are words that cross language barriers, praise the Lord. I was very touched by the gentleness and caring displayed by his friends as they helped him move as needed. My squad leader and I consulted to try and educate them effectively in Spanish for preventing the bed sores from getting worse.
And I found that perhaps I could relate to them from a different perspective. So many of them have families they have not seen in a while, or their families have trouble trusting that they really are making changes in their lives. There is much brokenness and pain in that regard. And while I don’t know what it is like to have a beloved recovering from drug addiction, I do know the pain of broken trust, severed relationship, the inability to forgive, the inability to believe the changes are real or long-lasting. But I also have experienced the power of Jesus to restore hope, build trust, heal relationship, and birth forgiveness. This is what I want to share with them – that God is able to restore what they fear is broken beyond repair. I want to encourage them to press forward in the transformation process.
“How much happier you would be, how much more of you there would be, if the hammer of a higher God could smash your small cosmos.”
– G.K. Chesterton
God, please smash my small cosmos. Give me eyes to see how You love those outside my own little world. Give me a heart that is willing to be broken, to look foolish, to even fail in an attempt to reach into other people’s world in order to serve them, love them, give them hope.
