Just 4 weeks old, found by a sweeper outside a hospital, barely breathing. All of her organs are visible through her thin skin, clubbed feet and spina bifida. Left for dead. My heart has been broken. This is just one of the 105 children brought to Sarah’s Covenant Home, given a last name, clothes, love, and an opportunity to live. These are the kids that I get to hold, feed, sing over, and love on every day here in Ongole, India. The stories are not stories of sorrow but of redemption. This home has provided a security and identity for children who were told they were nothing in this world. The same way God gives his children a new name when they come to him, providing identity and security to all of his sons and daughters. This is the redemptions story played out for me every day with these beautiful children.
India was a place I honestly did not want to come to and was not prepared for. Part of this was due to fear of unknown and so many attributes I projected on India and part of this was a personal struggle I realized coming here. I realized how much security I had found in my life right before I signed up for this crazy journey. Security for me is never something I have sought out, trusted, or found in life. I think I have felt secure in my relationship with Jesus, but outside of that, I have only trusted myself and what I can control. What I did not understand before now and have been struggling to admit, even here now, is that I felt as if I found great security in my life situation before heading out here. Like these children being ripped away from what is known, comfortable, and desired, I struggle with balancing letting that go but still trusting I have ultimate security through Christ and any relationships he chooses to provide.
Through the redemptive stories, the beauty of the city streets, and the work that God is doing, I have been sweetly broken for this country and have fallen in love. I will forever be changed by the redemptive stories of India and security the Father is teaching me.
Psalm 68:5 “ A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling.”
