“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27
To look after orphans and widows in their distress. If there is anything God has taught me this week, it is just how much he cares for the orphan. He has such compassion and love for them, and recently He has been putting a little bit of His love and compassion into me.
Right up the street from where I live, there is an orphanage. In it live 45 beautiful boys and girls, whom the Father loves so dearly. 15 or 20 of these children are under the age of 3 or 4, and they all stay in a nursery together. There are several Filipino women who do their best to care for the little ones, but they are often just overwhelmed. So our squad has volunteered to serve in the nursery, keeping at least 2 people there, around the clock.
One night last week, they needed extra help, so they asked me to be in the nursery from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Reluctantly, I decided to go. When I arrived, I met some of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen. Throughout the night, I fed them, held them, and played with them.
Now, I must admit that playing with babies is not my favorite thing in the whole world. God has blessed our squad with some people who would stay in the nursery 24/7 if they could, but I’m not one of those people. BUT, even though it was not the most fun thing, God kept bringing James 1:27 to my mind, and He kept telling me “I’m giving you the opportunity to obey exactly what this verse says.”
Two days later, I went into the nursery in the morning, just to spend a short time there. Then, I learned that 2 babies and 3 toddlers all had to go to the doctor, and they needed someone to go with them. I’ll be honest. I didn’t want to go. But no one else volunteered, so I decided to do it. We went to this little tiny clinic, with just 2 rooms, one doctor, and one secretary/nurse. Then we waited for more than 2 hours before any of our 5 kids could see the doctor. All this time, I personally was not having that much fun. But then God brought to my mind the parents that will one day adopt these kids. One day, I pray, each of them will have a forever mom and a forever dad come and take them home. Isn’t that amazing?? That thought just made me so willing and eager to care for these kids now, while they need it.
Slowly, God is working and replacing my heart with His heart inside of me. I’m learning more and more what the Father feels for these orphans I am around every day. God pursued me and adopted me into His family because He loved me as an “orphan.” And he loves every single child across the street from me. Every day, I ask Him to give me His heart for them, so both they and I can even better understand the Father’s love.
p.s. I’m so sorry I don’t have any pictures of the children I’m writing about. The children’s home has asked us not to post any pictures of them on public websites. Sorry! 🙁
