Stories of the brokenhearted; and beautiful redemption that comes from trusting that God is good.
One night we were in a remote village doing ministry and a beautiful Indian woman came up to me asking for prayer. We got the translator to explain her situation and realized that she had just lost her daughter and was now suffering from some financial difficulties. After we finished praying for her she took my hand and lead me into one of the rooms in her little house. There was a picture of a man that sat perched on a makeshift table. She pointed to it, and through broken English and hand motions she communicated to me that this man was her husband he had passed away too. I don’t know how long ago she had lost him, but the pain and emotion on her face was still so raw. She began to weep and as I put my arms around her, her frail, fragile body nestled into my embrace. We stood there and cried together. I was heartbroken for her. Each time I tried to leave, I simply couldn’t. The thought of leaving her in that village and not being able to do anything for her made me feel so helpless. She had lost everything. No husband, no daughter, no money. And still she had faith that God would hear her prayers. Still, she has faith that God is good, and He is.
That same night at the beginning of the service there were eight orphan girls sitting at the very front of the church. (In these villages church is a community of local believers gathering for worship and sitting on a concrete slab outside someone’s home for preaching and teaching.) They were the strongest young women I have ever seen. The way they worshiped with such intensity and vibrancy was captivating. That night I saw equally the beauty of the Lord, and the strength of the Lord in these girls. As I was thinking about them I was so moved by their determination. Their culture has given them every reason to believe they are hopeless, weak, and worthless. They have lost their parents and they have no family willing or available to take them in. And still they had faith that the Lord would hear their worship, and He does. They still have faith that God is good, and He is.
Another day we were in a very remote village spending time with some local families, enjoying some Thumbs Up (the Indian version of Coke) when a man walked into the area we were stilling at. The man was followed a young girl with short hair. She immediately caught my attention because her mannerisms were so recognizable; this little girl was autistic. I watched closely as she interacted with the village members. She was ignored, brushed off, and quieted. As a teacher, I know how hard it can be for children with autism, but with certain accommodations I’ve seen autistic children absolutely thrive in America. They are loved, cared for, and understood. It was so clear though, that this child was not understood. My heart broke for her. To be in village where no one really has the understanding of what her diagnosis is. No one had the capacity to implement some simple practices that would help her so much. As we drove away in the van I just watched as she wandered the streets. I felt the Spirit so clearly, telling me to stop the van and go back to pray for her. I was hesitant, we were already on out way out of the village, but the feeling I had was just too strong to shake. I asked our driver to stop the van, and I told our translator to come with me to pray over the girl. As my team and I got out of the van we made a beeline for the little girl. We bypassed people in the village anxiously awaiting to see what we had come back for. As we approached the little girl, a man stopped me and through broken English tied to tell me we don’t need to pray for her because there was something wrong with her. We just ignored his remark and knelt down beside her. The little girl was overwhelmed she ran away, but our team began to pray for her in the middle of the village street. Even if she is not healed I feel like it was so powerful for the village to see that out of everyone there, the Lord chose her to be prayed over. She is not worthless the Lord, she is not misunderstood by the Lord, and she is not a burden to the Lord. She is a precious daughter of the King. And maybe the village needed to see that.
The Lord reminded me that just like that little girl ran away form us in the village, we too, in all our confusion and fear, can turn away from Him. All the Lord wants to do is comfort us in times of need, and we so often forget in those times that He is good. Through these experiences I have seen such heartbreak, but I have also seen the goodness of the Lord. He is good, and he so desperately wants to love us, especially through the hard times.
