This question brings me to tears. This question tears my heart into two. This questions makes me angry but yet determined. This question restores my sense of purpose being on the World Race. This question defines a need I cannot meet….
This question comes from a little girl named Rosita. Here is her story:
Rosita is four years old and is from Santa Cruz del Quiche, Guatemala. When she was just two years old, her two older sisters and her were given to the state department of Guatemala, because their mom was deemed unfit to take care of them. They were ushered into an orphanage, but soon after, Rosita’s father (not the father of the two older sisters) took the three girls back home to live with him. He promised to love and care for the three girls. He worked hard and sacrificed much in order to pay for private Christian schooling. He wanted the girls to have everything he didn’t have. Oh how he loved them…
About a year later, the enemy attacked their family. Some false allegations were made against the dad, and the state of Guatemala sentenced him to ten years in prison. Rosita and her sisters became orphans for the second time in their short lives. A local orphanage in Quiche called Casa de Mi Padre (My Father’s House) took the three girls in. Casa de Mi Padre was started by an American missionary named Shane. His goal was to give them the love they deserved and to give them a home they could call their own.
The girls continued at the Christian school, Casa de Sabiduria, but this time they went for free since they were orphaned. The Lopez family who run the school take the time to love on little Rosita. They make her extra breakfast in the morning and put her to sleep shortly after since she doesn’t sleep well at the children’s home. They love her like she is one of their daughters. One day, quiet little Rosita asked the most heart-breaking question to Loly (Mrs. Lopez). Rosita asked, “Does my father not love me anymore?” Loly had no words. How do you explain to a four year old about all the evil in the world? How do you explain abandonment to the most innocent little face? There are no words…
This is just one of the heart-breaking stories that I have heard this past month working at Casa de Sabiduria. I could tell you of the story of Benito who was tossed from person to person and of who no one wanted. Or how about the story of Reina who was forced to take care of her father’s wife’s kids? She was then beat with melting plastic and now has burn scars all down her thigh which will serve as a reminder of the horror for the rest of her life. These kids are all orphans at Casa de Mi Padre and go to school at Casa de Sabiduria.
These beautiful, precious children are the reason I gave up a year of my life. Oh man are they so broken and so hurt. How could they think that they are worthless and unwanted? Don’t they know how much Jesus loves them and how much He wants to hold them in His arms? He can heal their wounds and love them unlike anyone on this earth. He can wipe away their tears. He will never let go of them. Rosita is so loved, oh so loved, by her Heavenly Father. Through the hope at Casa de Sabiduria and Casa de Mi Padre, she is receiving that love and affection she so deeply deserves.
Thus why I am also here. I am about to start my last week in Guatemala. Monday is our last day of ministry at Casa de Sabiduria. I cannot take away their pasts, their hurts, their brokenness, their wounds, or their loneliness. But I can love them with every ounce of me. I can share Jesus with them through my smiles, my hugs, my words, my acts of service, and just my presence. I don’t even really have to do anything for Jesus to love His little children through me. How great a Savior do I serve?
I may not be able to rid the world of all the evil in it. But I can join the troops and fight the good fight. I refuse to watch one more child think they are unworthy of love. I am part of the movement. I am the light in the darkness. The Light of the world lives inside me, and I cannot contain Him.
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James 1:27
