Esther in Chile
Man, this place is so awesome! I love what God is doing through Vision for Children. My heart is overwhelmed with love and joy for the girls at the House of Hope. I look at them and can see such a beautiful creation that God made with purpose. Each one of them, individually unique and beautiful, with different stories to tell. A story about their life. The struggles and hardships, the dreams and failures, the abuse and neglect, the love and longing. Each one divinely put together to make a mark on this world. Each one has her own interests. Her own spark. Each one so beautifully thought out and formed together. Each one is carrying a story that makes her who she is and if her story was any different she would not be the same. Each of these girl’s stories, show struggle and hardship, but so much beauty in the midst.
Today I was reading the book of Esther and I became overwhelmed by God’s divine purpose for these girls lives and the amount of love He has for them. God appointed Esther to a high position. He makes her a queen that saves her people!! There is a lot more that happens in the story, but I love the fact that God chooses a common Jewish orphan to become a queen and to save a huge group of people. When I was reading the story I felt God saying I want to make these girls queens. Not literal queens. But He wants to do so much with their lives and with their stories! Esther was not of royal decent. She did not come from a wealthy family or from a family with lots of connections to get her to the position she held! In fact, she came from a broken family. She had a story and broken past. Her life had not been easy. Her parents had both died! So her cousin Mordecai had to raise her! Isn’t that just so cool!?? Her life was broken, but God had created her for a reason!! She was seen as beautiful and useful and called and needed.
The story of Esther reminded me of the girls here at the House of Hope. I look at them, all with their different personalities, their joy, their interests, their struggles, their strengths and I see God loving them so deeply. I see God calling them! Wanting to use them and their stories for such a time as this!!! I have loved getting to know some of these girl’s stories. Some of them are really hard and unimaginable, but beautiful! And I want to share some of those with you!!
For the privacy of the girl’s I am not going to use their real name, but will use the name Hope instead. Hope was one of the first girl’s we met here at the House of Hope. Hope is one of those people you just can not miss. Not just because of her goofy personality, but because she is literally always around. You can find her usually in the kitchen, making lunch or cleaning up, running to the store for someone, or upstairs playing with her hamster. She is one of the most helpful people I have ever seen. She has such a giving spirit. She also has such a fun and goofy personality!! She is constantly making funny faces and likes to look at people and name them after the animal they look like. I am currently “rat face.” Hahah. Hope is just a special girl! She is one of the girls that my team has gotten to be around and know better. Our hearts have literally fallen in love with her!
Hope, at the age of four, was placed into the orphanage down the street from the House of Hope. Her mom struggles with schizophrenia and the forty-year age difference between her mom and dad, made it hard for them to take care of her. When she was younger she would go home on the weekends to spend time with her family. One weekend after returning to the orphanage they were doing follow up checks on the girls after they arrived back and found that Hope had been sexually abused by her uncle. Hope told the orphanage what had happened because she thought it was a normal thing to happen. Soon after the police got involved and there was a trial convicting her uncle of rape. You would think that would be a lot for a little girl to handle, but the heartache kept coming. Before the trial was finished the family found the uncle had committed suicide. During this same time Hope, also found out that her dad was also her great uncle. Turns out when Hope’s mother was younger she was also raped by her uncle, who is also Hope’s dad. Hope continued to live in the orphanage and was struggling with the death of her uncle because she thought it was her fault. A few years went by and she began to realize it was not her fault. A little time later and Hope began seeking comfort from a boy. She ended up leaving the orphanage to move in with her boyfriend. The relationship did not work out do to too much fighting so she head back to the orphanage. As she started approaching the age of 18, she heard about the House of Hope and thought it would be the perfect place for her to live after she left the orphanage. She moved into the House of Hope about a year ago. The year that she has been here has not always been easy. There was a point in time where she even left for a month. When she came back, she was a different person. She realized the people at the house care for her so now she works hard around the house and is trying to save money for school. Vision for Children and the House of Hope are giving her a place to live and the opportunity to be apart of a community that is full of people that love her like family. They are working with Hope to help her accomplish her dreams of saving money and going to school.
Her testimony is hard. There is a lot of baggage and heartache that has happened in this sweet girl’s life, but as I am reading the book of Esther I feel God calling this girl to a life of so much more, where He is going to use every part of this girl’s story for good! This is just one girls story. There are ten others at the House of Hope and tons more within this community and at the orphanage! Pray for these girl’s! That they will come into a relationship with Christ and realize their worth and the plans God has for them!!
