Sometimes your heart just breaks and there’s nothing you can do but embrace it…
Sunday afternoon our contact, Becky, took us into a nearby village where she has previously ministered to the families. We went to play with the children and tomorrow we will go pick up those children to bring them to camp for the week.
When we arrived Becky greeted the children and women that were out and invited them to come play. Most of the team started a soccer game and then some of us went on over to the sidelines where some of the women and their babies went to watch.
Not long after a little girl came up to me and when I bent down she just wrapped her arms around my neck. We communicated in the best of ways for not knowing one another’s language and then began to kick a ball around. I found my new best friend… for the next hour or however long we were there she was rarely far away from me. Mainly, she wanted to be held and cuddled. I learned her name is Valentina and I would guess that she’s about 3 years old. With all of the women around I assumed that one of them was her mother. Don’t ask me why, but I just assumed…the women seemed to be taking care of all of the little ones around so I figured Valentina belonged to one of them.
And then she ran to the van and tried to get the door open to leave with us, and she just stood at the van door waiting… That’s when Becky said that Valentina and her two brothers are orphans…and my heart broke. Their mother abandoned them and their father doesn’t want them. They live at an orphanage, but the orphanage can’t keep them over the summer months so they send them back to their villages.
Suddenly, the hugs and kisses mean so much more. Here I had assumed that she had a mom that would give her all of the love that she needs. Suddenly, I want to tell her all the more how special she is, how beautiful she is, and how much she is loved. Luckily, tomorrow she will be coming to the camp! She will get to hear about Jesus and we get to show her His love. We get to hold her and love her, tell her how beautiful and special she is…what an honor it is to be able to embrace a broken heart.
“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” ~Mark 9:37
I know that God will continue to break my heart in numerous ways this year and I just pray that He gives me the strength to embrace the brokenness each and every time because through it He will be glorified!
