As I lie in bed at night, the faces of these precious children flood my head. To think of what they have gone through, to think of the love and physical touch that they long for, to think of how they just want to know someone actually cares, that they actually feel wanted. These children have nothing… literally nothing… they sleep in bug infested beds, they only get enough water to take a shower once a week, they have gone without food many times… but every day they wake up with smiling faces and find joy and love
in their Heavenly Father.
These children are very devoted to their prayer and quiet time with their Father. They wake up every morning at 6 am and have prayer time, they have it again at 2:30, and then at night they have “church” at 6:30.
Two nights ago I wasn’t able to go into church because I had some things to do, as I sat outside I could feel that the Holy Spirit was very strong and moving in the room… 2 ½ hours later I went to see “what was going on” and as I looked in the door I saw children on their faces before their Lord. As these precious children (many of them only 5 and 6 years old) lay on the floor weeping the 13 year old that had preached walked around and laid hands and prayed over them as the Holy Spirit fell. I have to say that I was in complete awe… the way that they respected the presence of the Holy Spirit and let Him continue to minister right where they were.
These children are so on fire for the Lord, the have been such an inspiration to me and have made me reevaluate my walk. They are all orphans, they are here because their family either doesn’t want them or there is literally no one here to care for them. In the society that they live in, they can be killed for being a Christian and preaching the gospel and yet so many of them have the dream of one day being a preacher.
When they reach their teens years, they have a choice of whether to stay here or go to bible school. If they choose to go to bible school they are not only committing themselves to the school and their teachings, they are committing to lose their life for the sake of the gospel. Upon graduation from the school, they are given a bike, a bible, they take an oath saying they will die for the Lord and they are sent out “…as lambs among wolves”.
The fact that these kids do not see this as “scary” blows my mind. I can say over and over again that if someone came to me and held a gun to my head that I would die for the Lord. But would I truly do it? This has challenged me so much, to look at my walk, to see how strong it is (or isn’t)… would it stand if it came to this.
…Think about it.
Yesterday was a great day… we were able to experience a Sunday morning church service with them. The founder of this orphanage (that has been in hiding) and his son (that just got out of prison) came as guest speakers. The kids were so excited. They cleaned everything spotless, they made a huge welcome banner, and they “decorated” the prayer room.
As they both spoke about their “torture”, the ridicule that they have been under, and the persecution, they continued to remind us that it was all for the children. The only reason that this is going on is because of the children… that is love. Both of them had tears fill their eyes when they talked about the children, how much they loved and cared for them, but more than that about their goal of advancing the kingdom of heaven a thousand times by their lives.
The ministry that they are a part of has over 10,000 orphans and to know that these 80 that are here are just a grain of sand in the big picture of things means more to them than their own lives.
Our time here has been so amazing. There is so much work to be done, so much that these kids need, and to know that we are here not only loving on them and caring for them in this way, but we are able to provide for them physically. Many people have given money for us to paint, build shelves, buy a new battery for the van, possibly buy new mattresses for their beds and if it wasn’t for those people they still would be without, so thank you for that.
Though it is so hot here… I mean HOT!!! (Yesterday was 125 degrees, over 50 people died in Delhi just from the heat.) We have been able to over look that and look at the bigger picture of things and see what a difference we are making in the lives of these kids. They are worth every minute, every drop of sweat (and that’s a lot), every flea bite, every mosquito bite, all the dirt… I would do it over and over again.
Last night we decided that since we have been “roughing it” we all needed a refresher night… so we decided that the guys would have guy’s night and the girls would have girl’s night.
The guys took a train into the city and decided that they would go where the wind blew them and they would decide what to do once they got there. Well, being girls and wanting things planned and wanting it to be “fun” we decided to have a P party.
Princesses, Pizza, Pampering, Praying
We all got away by going to the apartment that AIM has here and we sat around and had a fun girl’s night by eating pizza, pampering each other with massages, pedicures, manicures, and other beauty treatments. Then we all got “partners” and prayed for each other.
It was a much needed time. On the way back to the orphanage, we sang songs and laughed harder than we have in a long time. We were all definitely refreshed and rejuvenated and ready for another full week of ministry.
“Greater LOVE has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
“I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.” Phil. 3:8-9
Thank You so much for all of your prayers and financial support. The kids here are worth it and they are so thankful for what we are being able to do for them by the way the Lord is providing… again, Thank You.
