Living and working with the kids at Mi Casa this past month
has been a joy and an honor. They are all precious precious gifts from the Lord
and I feel so blessed to have been a part of their lives.
Whether we were painting murals or scripture verses in their
homes, attempting to get their hand prints on the wall with oil-based paint and
not having it end up everywhere, cleaning the house/ scrubbing the walls, playing tag, futbol, or on the swings in the
park, going to church and worshipping together, walking around the mall,
watching the new Justin Bieber movie in 3D (yea, it happened…), taking them to
laser tag for the first time, riding up and down the elevator just because we
could, making homemade Easter cards together, listening to their testimonies
and sharing some of ours, praying for and encouraging them, allowing them to
open up for some of the first times in their lives about their past, sharing
scripture verses and telling them who they are in Christ and what He thinks
about them, attempting to translate all of this goodness, simply laughing and
joking around, or attacking them with love and hugs on a daily basis… I have
truly enjoyed our time with this family and I now feel like I’m a part of it.
Let me tell you a little about our day yesterday… it was
phenomenal. The pastor of the church we’ve been attending here has a children’s
home of his own and a beautiful farm in conjunction with it. His daughter has
started a ministry there doing horse therapy with the kids (some with special
needs) and works with about sixty different children on a regular basis – what
a blessing! They wanted to start building deeper relationships with the kids
from Mi Casa so they invited us out to the farm after church and the kids had a
blast! We rode the horses (so fun!), played futbol and volleyball, explored the
property a bit, climbed up a tree house and attached rock wall, searched for
wild oranges and mangos (and munched on them), played on the tire swing, rolled
down the hill, gawked at the beauty of God’s creation all around us (it was
literally breath-taking), hiked up to a little white chapel they had built,
sang to and worshipped God together, prayed in multiple languages, and thanked
the Lord for His overwhelming goodness
and love. It was truly an incredible experience. On top of that, a few of the
kids from Mi Casa were able to meet two of their brothers for the first time
who currently live at the pastor’s home; seeing them interact with one another
and truly connect as family was incredible.
To top off the day, as we were driving home I was sitting in
the middle of two of our precious girls (Angelica and Brisa) and they both ended
up falling asleep in my lap. As I sat there I suddenly found myself in a state
of bliss. With one in each arm, simply holding them close, I began praying over
them, thanking God for their lives, and asking Him to protect, guide, and keep
them; I prayed for them to truly experience the spirit of adoption and to know
their Father’s love for them in a deep, intimate way. They need to know how
precious they are in the eyes of their Dad… they need to know that they are
marked as His own.
My heart was so full of love for them in that moment I felt
like I could explode; it was simply bubbling over, almost palpably pouring out
of me and onto them through the Spirit. I was again surprised at how deeply I
can love children I feel like I barely know. It’s only been a few weeks, and
yet at times I feel like I love them like my own. It’s clear that this is not my love; it is the love of their Father,
their Heavenly Daddy coming down and flowing through me. What an incredible honor it is to be used as
a vessel for the Lord, to be entrusted with His love for His kids. He has
been giving me more of His heart, His eyes, His emotions, and His divine love
for His people around the world… especially recently. Now that I think about
it, this exact thing was prophesied over me towards the beginning of the race (in
Ireland) and I am now seeing the words of the Lord come to fruition in my life.
As I take a step back and think about all the Lord has done this year it’s hard
to not get overwhelmed. His goodness is beyond what I can fathom; His
faithfulness reaches to the heavens. Even as I type this I am almost in tears; we truly have an amazing Father, a Father whose love
surpasses knowledge.
“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with
power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long
and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses
knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of Godâ€�
(Ephesians 3:16-19).
“Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba,
Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God
has made you also an heir� (Galatians 4:6-7).
Lilian and I cleaning the casa 🙂
Angelica and I chillen on the balcony right before our dance party with the girls!
Aly and Brisa… love them!
A few of the girls after putting green hand prints on the wall to represent leaves… so fun! From left to right: Gabo, Julia, Gabriela, and Rosa <3
Beloved girls putting our own colorful hand prints on the wall! From left to right: B.Jax, me, B.Cox, Heather, Courtney, BP, and Kige is in the back! Love them! 🙂
Me loving on my horse… she was great! 🙂
The tree house at the farm… gorgeous! 🙂
Check out more pictures of the month from Brittany Cox HERE:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154723&id=36104756&l=a16cc42c40
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2154729&id=36104756&l=9495dc0abe
p.s. Kige just wrote a sweet blog about The Spirit of
Adoption… check it out here: http://kirstengeorge.theworldrace.org/?filename=the-spirit-of-adoption
