Currently, I’m sitting on a plane headed to Abu Dhabi and I decided it would be a perfect time to write a blog. I felt like the Lord told me to write about the impact that I left on the children at the carepoint my team and I did ministry at in Swaziland, which seemed quite selfish to me at first. However, I realized that it was more about giving God the glory of what He stirred up in my heart, rather than anything to do with me.
Although I would love to spend this blog reminiscing on all that Swaziland entailed, I feel like it should be centered on the last moments spent there because usually when you spend time with someone, you realize the impact that they left on you as your time with them comes to a close.
We spent three months in Swaziland building relationships with kids ranging in the age of 1 to 20. These kids all had different stories behind those sweet smiles of theirs. Some had a parent that took care of them. Some had a grandparent. Some had aunts or uncles. Some just had their siblings. They were their own caretakers. They hadn’t experienced any sort of love that I thought could so easily be given away. For me personally, I got close to a few girls that were around 9 to 12, so they weren’t super expressive of their feelings. They put on a smile every day and said that their day was fine, though I knew that wasn’t always the case. I knew they each had things that were going on behind the scenes that I would never fully understand. I knew what my shepherd would tell me about their life at home and that was about the extent of it. But that was enough to know that most of them weren’t getting loved the way they deserved at home. Coming to the carepoint each day and talking to me was going to be the most love they received that day. I thought about that a lot. Why did God bring us here and allow us to build a relationship with these kids and pour out our love to them when it was just going to be ripped away? I saw no point in that. I really wrestled with God on that and He responded…just not in a way that I necessarily wanted to hear.
God shared with me that His love is within me. The love that I give to others is so freely given because of the love that He has for me. These girls that I was getting to love on were being shown the love that God has for them simply by me showing them love. Whether they understood that or not was not for me to try and control. God never gave me those reigns and thank goodness for that.
Although God opened my eyes to this realization, I was still consumed with worry about where these girls were going to receive love from once I was gone. But once again, the Lord so clearly spoke to me and told me that He didn’t NEED me to show them love. He invited me to be a part of that, but He has loved them all along. They are His daughters and He cares for them just as much as any other child of His. That is hard to accept at times because I want to have control in this situation, but I know that I don’t see the bigger picture or purpose and I never will. Sometimes God allows us to be the planters, but not the harvesters and that is something that I have to be okay with.
As I processed all of this, I realized how important our interactions are with everybody we encounter. We don’t know who we are going to meet or have the opportunity to show love to each day. We don’t know everyone’s story and we don’t know who simply needs a smile or a “You look beautiful today.” Love doesn’t have to be this grand gesture. Love is simply showing someone that are important and cared for. So this is me asking whoever is reading this to show love to the next person you talk to. It sounds so simple, but it’s so powerful. The Lord moves in big ways through love considering He is love. Don’t miss out on it if you don’t have to.
