The ministry we partnered with this month has a small children’s home for woman and children who have been affected by violence, rape, and incest. This organization is run by a couple who seeks out the lost, provides a home for those who have no where else to go, and offers a purpose to keep on living. We have had the blessing to share a home and compound with 14 children and woman who live here. They are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met, and I can’t imagine the world without them in it. Their stories, though, are not easy to hear. It tears my heart to know what they have been through, and the life the devil wanted them to have.
Imagine a little girl, one years old, found tied up on the dirt floor. That little girl was burned, beaten up, and raped by her family several times. Not able to reach her thumb to suck on, she sucked on her arm for comfort. At one years old, this little girl’s innocence was taken away from her. Most would say her life would not be worth living after that.
Imagine a six year old girl who watched her brother kill her father. Her mother then began dating man after man, who eventually began raping her. At such a young age, all she knew was abuse, and she was forced to work out in the fields. She became pregnant at the age of 11.
Imagine a newborn conceived on top of a mountain, and left there to die. Crying for hours and hours, wailing, with no one to come for help. Umbilical cord and all still attached.
Imagine a woman in a relationship with a drug dealer, and giving birth to a baby boy. Scared and alone, the woman abandoned her son to run off with another man. This boy is now much smaller than he should be for his age, and has no mother to take care of him.
These are hard to imagine, because these words hurt and are heavy. The truth is that these stories are real, and we have been able to meet the children that these situations have produced. I wish you could meet them now. They are beautiful woman and children, with smiles and joy on their faces, living a full life. They were all rescued and have been given a second chance at life. Life was taken from them by the evil in this world. Yet, God whispered, “I’m not finished with you yet.”
And, God’s not finished with you yet either. I know that many of you have personally seen or have had horrific things happen to you. You may currently be in a poisonous marriage, trapped in an abusive relationship, stuck in a bad work environment, etc. There may be people in your life who treat you poorly, and you feel like you will never find a way out. Hope seems way out of the question, and a purpose to life gets dimmer and dimmer. These kids and these woman may have felt the same thing. But these words were true for them and they are true for you as well: God is NOT finished with you yet!
