This month I am working in India at an orphanage for children with special needs. In India children with any type of disability are viewed as a curse. These disabilities can be everything from TB to being bed ridden due to different illnesses. Most of the time these children are thrown out on the streets to die so they are not an embarrassment to their families. If they are found they are put into state facilities that feed them enough to sustain them, but are not repositioned or given medications needed for their condition. The orphanage we are at has about 110 kids and is maxed out because of their lack of funds and caregivers. It is a heartbreaking experience that some how the Lord is still so sweet in.
Our job is to love on the kids, pray over them and the orphanage, and to help their caregivers learn about the most sanitary way to take care of the children. There are several challenges that go along with this though. I LOVE these kiddos already, but in the back of my mind I am concerned that I may get lice, TB, HIV, or some other illnesses running around this place. This is not how I want to be and it is one of the things that I cover in prayer much of time. We also pray continually for the caregivers at this place. Most of them have been raised in villages that have little to no sanitation with in them, so it is hard to get across why certain things are important for these children and humans in general. Many of our requests to change diapers, wash hands, wipe noses, etc. are not met with friendly responses. It is a hard situation because most of us would react the same way if someone came in to change the way we had done something our whole life.
When thinking about how overwhelming all of this could become I was reminded of a sentence that my dad put in a comment on my last blog. "Love is that big."
God's love is big enough to keep my team and me healthy from anything while here.
God's love is big enough to heal these children.
God's love is big enough to remove language barriers.
God's love is big enough to bring change that is needed, no matter how hard.
God's love is big enough to continue making me a better me.
God's love is big enough to meet all financial needs for this orphanage.
God's love is big enough to bring smiles to ALL children.
"The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and mercy is over all that he has made."
Psalm 145:8-9
