I found my Ivorian daughter and her name is Jaslyne. No, not literally, don’t worry mom I didn’t strap her to my backpack to take home with me. No, but I found her to be like my daughter, spiritually as she whispered to me softly. I had to lean in closer to hear.
“Comme tu ta pel?” (What is your name?) I asked with a smile.
“Jaslyne.” She answered me timidly.
“Se jolie!” (how pretty!) I exclaimed.
She looked me in the eye at the sound of her mother tongue. Her eyes spoke of wonder and wanting. She touched her hand to mine without a word and the world around me stopped for just a moment. Her dry hands told me a story of longing. She clung to me as if she had known me for a lifetime and I felt as though she had.
She pointed to another child with a piece of paper in his hand. A piece of paper my team made that spoke of Jesus love plainly and simply. Jesus t’aime. (Jesus loves you.) That’s all her small hands and brown eyes longed for, to touch and know of the love of Jesus.
When she held the paper in her hands she was satisfied and her head rested on my heart and I prayed she would hear my heartbeat. I prayed she would hear the heartbeat of a Savior within me. I prayed that she would run to her father and mother and spread the life Jesus had given me to give to her. She took my heartprint in her lovely hands to remember forever. It’s amazing how a child can change the heartbeat of the family. I’ve seen it many times and I want desperately for it to happen again and again and again because it is indescribably beautiful.
Jesus led me to find her. Jesus led us to find all of the them. The forgotten, hidden souls. The great cloud of children surrounding my teammate and her soul-winning guitar. The sound of her strumming was begging them to come out of their hiding places, singing, “Wake up, oh sleeper… wake up and be glad.” We were glad indeed. Far too glad to want to leave.
It all started with, “Let’s go on a walk!”
It all began with the voice on the other end of the phone saying, “today is not so much good time for us to pick you for evangelizing.”
No plans. No expectations.
Next time your plans fly out the door like a hungry hummingbird, I challenge you to smile and say “let’s go on a walk,” and see what God has planned for you to do today.
