“It is in the breaking that God multiplies not enough into more then enough.”
-Christine Caine (UNSTOPPABLE)
We have been in Ecuador for almost two weeks. The city of Quito is beyond beautiful. The people are warm and welcoming. Ecuador feels like a home away from home. The home we are staying at is called ‘Casablanca.’ Four teams from F SQUAD are staying at the home provided by Inca Link. Inca Link is an organization that works at reaching the youth of Latin America with the irresistible love of Jesus Christ. The room we sleep in has bunk beds; I sleep on the top bunk. In normal life I might complain but as I wake every morning and my sleepy eyes begin to open I look out the window to a panoramic view of a valley that takes my breath away. I wake up praising God that I am on this adventure and that I have the honor and privilege of serving the people He has put in my path.
In the midst of the beauty that encircles my landscape there is a breaking that is happening inside my heart. My heart first began to break for the children we worked with at a place called ‘CAMP HOPE.’ CAMP HOPE is a ray of light bringing hope to children who have special needs and most of these precious children are orphaned.
The class I had the privilege of serving was filled with boys spanning from the age of 15-21. None of which could communicate with language but communicated more then I could ever imagine to my life. They communicated with a simple holding of a hand, a spontaneous dance of joy or a burst of laughter.
After the first day of serving at CAMP HOPE I came home and wept. Not those shallow cries, but the kind of deep belly cry that comes from the depth of your being.
My heart was broken.
My heart broke into a million pieces as I placed myself in their shoes. I thought about how they were abandoned, no abandonment I had ever felt could touch the abandonment they had faced. One child at the facility had been found chained and living with cats before the government placed the child in the orphanage. My heart shattered as I thought of the simple things these precious children counted as triumphs but were everyday tasks that I counted as norm. My heart felt trampled as I thought of the countless people who gave their lives to love these children with no recognition but out of pure love.
I was a mess.
It was as if a bomb had gone off in the deep core of my heart. I had felt broken for people before but this was a new level of brokenness. Isn’t it just like God to use people whom other people do not count? In my mess God reached down and gave me His perspective and opened my heart to feel what He feels for the kids at CAMP HOPE. My heart was being broken for the least of these just like God’s heart breaks and spills out with love for those at CAMP HOPE and all over the world.
There is a miracle in the breaking. It’s as if God takes your heart, shows you something that is dear to him, allows the breaking and then puts your heart back together better then it was before. I had loved people, but HE put a whole new love in me. He taught me about love on a whole new level.
To love you don’t need a plan, you just need to be present. Love is never stationary. Love doesn’t fix people; love just wants to be with that person. Love is BIG. Love expresses itself.
My heart was broken and I hope it breaks again. Through the brokenness God multiplied love in my heart for people. He broke my perspectives and let me see through His eyes. My heart was shattered but He bandaged it back together and better then I could have ever imagined it.
Every day while here in Ecuador when I wake up and look at the panoramic picture that peeks from the curtains for my eyes to see, I still find that my breath is taken away. However the most beautiful view is no longer from my perched bunk bed but as I hang out with the kids at CAMP HOPE. As I have the honor of loving them with a heart that has been tweaked to beat with the heartbeat of God it is a mere reminder that God is not done breaking my heart for what breaks His heart. This is only the beginning of the multiplication process that He wants to do so that my heart can contain more of His love for those He loves most.
I pray today that God breaks your heart. I pray He would break your heart for the things that break His. I pray that as He breaks your heart that He would fill it with His love and through that process He would multiply your life for His kingdom.
Sending Love from Ecuador!
<3
Ash
#TeamAsh
P.S. If you want to see a video of CAMP HOPE check out my team mate Dillon’s video
www.DillonSeeley.theworldrace.org
