For ministry in the mornings at Sarah’s Covenant Home, our contact assigned us to a floor of the home we are staying at, which houses the more dependent kids. The floor I was assigned to has 5 boys. Four of them have cerebral palsy, among other disabilities, and 1 is blind. On the other 2 floors there is a foster mom for the kids who know physical therapy and exercises for their children to do. On my floor, there are only the caretakers who don’t speak English. The first day I sat there and had no idea what to do. I didn’t want to hurt the boys. I didn’t want to get drooled on. I didn’t want to get peed on. I didn’t want to get lice or ringworm. I mainly only played with the Asher, the one who didn’t have cp, because he was more normal, more comfortable to be around. As this continued each morning I began to ask God to open my eyes, to allow me to see the others for who they really are, how He sees them. I began to realize my selfishness and was ashamed of my thoughts and actions towards the children. They are innocent and did not deserve to be treated like that. I began to lay myself down, every single morning, and I found the more and more I did that, the more and more God opened my eyes to see his sons as He does. I began to see that they are valued, that they are worthy of love, and that they are beautiful because God made them.I began to notice that they find joy in the smallest things. Their eyes light up when they hear music playing or hold one of our hands or when we swing.
Now that I saw these kids for who they really are, I wanted to love them well. I wanted them to know and feel the love of Jesus. But how do you do that when they can’t understand a word you say and only know you are there when they feel your hands touching them? God reminded me of a letter from one of my friends back home that she gave me before I left. It says, in India I pray for the ability to connect/communicate with people through Jesus’ power alone. I was also reminded of a note my team leader gave me at the very beginning of the month. In big letters it said Love Deeply. It continued with there is power in the way that you love and India needs the love that Jesus has put inside of you. So as I reflected on these words I began to pray that my hands would literally be the hands of Jesus and whenever I touched the kids they would feel Jesus and not me and that they would know His love and know that they are His sons, fearfully and wonderfully made. I might not ever have all of the answers to my questions about these boys and special needs children in general, but I know that all I can do for now is love them and be hopeful that Jesus will work through that love.
