Had an experience at an orphanage in Vietnam that will never go forgotten. The age range in this orphanage was 5 months to 98 years old. For those who have seen the movie, Shutter Island I felt like I lived on that island for a short period of time. As I walked up I saw the same old lady with balding hair standing perfectly still by the bushes. I passed her on my right and then looked to my left to find another old lady, with her pants to her ankles, squatting in the middle of the grass to use the bathroom. The depths of brokenness I felt that day was indescribable. The man who started it had a heart to go and “collect”, for lack of better term, the people who had been abandoned. Children were found in bushes, on streets, while others were found in grave yards. These children along with the elderly were rejected because of their disability. They were found facing everything alone because they were unwanted. My heart as you can assume was beyond broken as we had encounters with each person, in this institution. With every story that I heard, my heart sank deeper and deeper into that brokenness.
Meet Huy
This little boy has water releasing in his brain. He would shake when the pain would run down in body. He was told that he only has five years to live. He is four.
Lord I pray for Huy. I pray that you are holding him when no one else will. I pray he feels the embrace of your loving arms.
I fell in love with this little one and so did my teammate Nancy. Had it been allowed, Nancy would have left that little boy clung to her hip and taken him home with her. Khoung was found abandoned in a grave yard because he was born with down syndrome. He only had one arm due to the after affects of a chemical in the Vietnam war called, agent orange. Chemicals that were in bombs years and years ago are still affecting generations. Lord draw near to your precious son. May your arms always hold him. Because you are His God may he never again feel rejected or unwanted. May he always know the depths of your love.
Meet An
( An is acutally in the blue shirt. Sorry I couldnt find a close up picture )
An was a precious 7 year old. She had been dropped from a tall building which caused her to be paralyzed. Her parents brought her to the intuition claiming they had no idea how to take care of their daughter. So the orphanage took her in with open arms. An was overflowing with joy. Her giggles brought so much life. Lord I pray healing over her body. Your desire for your children is to walk in wholeness. Make An whole. Bring feeling and movement back to her body. Continue to take her deeper and deeper into your love. Contiune to impart your joy into her. I pray she continues to live in that joy.
Meet Ty
Ty was a sweet old lady who immediately stole my heart. I could have sat with her for hours. I walked into her room that she shared with 3 others and was so drawn to her. She was sitting on her bed with her arms hugging her knees as she stared out the one window, in her room. As I walked up to her I looked into her eyes only to find she had no sight at all. I didn’t have a translator with me so I couldn’t communicate one word to her. All I could do was try to love on her through the silence. So I sat on her bed holding her hand, rubbing her back and swatting the flies away, that covered her body. Later I learned that Ty is a widow who lost her husband in the Vietnam war. She had only been married one year before he left to go fight for his country, so they had yet to have any children. She spoke that she never has a soul to come visit her. Lord, I pray that your love with cover her deep loneliness. I know your love has to come to rescue her – yes Lord rescue her from it all. Let your light cast out all the darkness she feels. I pray you become her everything.
Ty’s Roommates
Again and again the Lord has spoken on the race that Love has no barrier. Love does whatever it takes to arrive at its destination. The Lords love is all powerful and it has arrived. Its destination is our hearts. It indeed has arrived but we must accept it. It is waiting for us.
I found it very interesting that Ty was looking out the window when I saw her. I don’t know much about blindness but when I imagine being blind I picture complete darkness. The light is what pierced Ty’s eyes, in the darkeness, and is what directed her. The darkness is what cripples her and keeps her from moving. The light is actually greater than the darkness that consumes her vision. The light of the Lord is greater than any other. Even if darkness surrounds us the light of the Lord is always shining brighter. It is always present and is always there to rescue us. The Lords light has arrived. For darkness is light to our God.
‘Where can I go to from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is light to you” Psalm 139:7-12
