This week there are kids here so we are getting to love on them and serve them by cooking and cleaning. There is one little girl from our village that I have absolutely fallen in love with and I’ve so much fun playing with her this week. And even though it is our last month, God has not backed down on refining us and sharpening us before we go home. We have been challenged and tested quite a bit this month, but all with good purpose.
I have been shocked to learn about all the injustice that happens here in Ukraine, even in the village we live in. And the most heartbreaking piece of information is that it’s all happening to children. Alcoholism is such a stronghold over this place and with the depression and hopelessness surrounding, it makes sense to want to crawl into a bottle and forget about all your problems. Unfortunately, that is how so much evil has been produced. Drunk parents abusing their kids. Moms selling their 7 and 9 year old daughters to ‘service’ perverted older men so she can buy vodka. Babies being abandoned and thrown in dumpsters because the mom was drunk or spent all her money on alcohol and couldn’t feed her baby.
The stories I have heard this month will absolutely rip your heart out. But early on God gave me a heart of compassion and mercy. In no way do I have judgement for any of these people, only hope for mercy and redemption. I hate that such evil can come upon someone so innocent. And I KNOW that God hates it. I KNOW he weeps over it. But I also know that mercy triumphs over judgement and that the LORD does not take pleasure in the death of anyone, not even the wicked. And my heart breaks for these people who are so bound by alcohol and completely deceived into such evil. I don’t think our human minds or hearts can fully understand justice and mercy. I don’t think that our perception of justice and what we deserve is the same as God’s.
There is a man who lives next door to our camp. And we were told that he is always drunk. Absolutley useless. He has done awful things to different people in this village, doesn’t work or support his family, and is completely useless. We were even told that looking at his life, it is hard to find any value in him whatsoever because he is completely ruled by this addiction. Two nights ago, this man came and spoke with our director, Andrew and it was the first time in 3 years that Andrew had ever spoken to him sober. It was shocking. The camp invited him to join them in a Bible study and he was actually interested AND sober! He has not come back yet but we are praying for another sober day when he decides to join them.
Even in the extreme hopelessness, there is hope. There is ALWAYS hope. And there is ALWAYS grace and ALWAYS mercy.
That is MY God.
