I have found the words that are the hardest to write are the ones that most need to be written.
This past month was month ten for me on this unforgettable journey. I was in Honduras with two teams and we were staying at a foster home for women and children who have been abandoned or are victims of domestic and/or sexual abuse. I have seen and been around a lot of hurt since departing in July on this journey around the world, but these precious children have tugged a little harder at my heart. Maybe it’s the fact that I was around them day in and day out; I heard their cries and laughter at night before I fell asleep and I awoke to them first thing every morning. Maybe it has to do with the darkness I felt in the country and the exposure I saw everyday to the way the men treat women and children there. And maybe it’s because I know their stories; heartbreaking stories which cause me to hold my breath in angst where I find that the only way I’m able to breathe again is to release a prayer up to the Lord for that sweet child.
One little girl stole all of our hearts, but especially mine; little Sophie***. She is a tiny little tot at 18 months of age with the most adorable double chin. When we first started holding her, she was resistant and never smiled at us. Our second day of ministry, three of us were in the nursery with her and the other three babies. She kept scooting away from us. I went and gave her a toy, a xylophone, and she kept looking at me bewildered. She just stared back with her beautiful brown eyes, making an awkward face with her cute little double chin. Even when I smiled at her, she would just scoot further and further away, obviously unsure about these new gringos. Then, a while later, her gaze drifted off and I saw her head nod and grabbed her just in time to catch her head on my shoulder as her eyes shut. She slept in my arms for the next hour or so and from then on, we were friends. By the end of our time there, she would even spontaneously smile at us and had started talking gibberish to us. It’s amazing what time and love can do for a child.
After spending a few days with her, I found out her story. Her mother was raped by her own father and grandfather and at the age of eleven, Sophie was born to her child mother. A mother who had a mental breakdown and became non-verbal when this beautiful baby in front of me was born. It isn’t known which man is the father, but she is a child born out of incest. I can’t write these words without a deep anger rising up within me. And Sophie’s story is an all too common one in Honduras and in many other parts of the world. When I think about some of the stories I’ve encountered like hers; stories of innocence lost and people caught in such utter despair like Sophie’s mother, it brings me to my knees in desperate prayers; prayers saturated in pleas with the Lord to bring justice and an end to the suffering…but is that enough?
I don’t think so. It’s better than nothing and prayer is powerful, but there’s more we’re being entrusted with as believers and children of God. He is the King of the Universe. He is big and powerful and His immense power resides within each of us. Imagine if that power were tapped and put to use and we linked arms to unite and fight against the evils in the world? Imagine the darkness we could bring to light and the evil we could destroy.
Sophie’s story isn’t over because someone did something. This foster home took her in when her own family turned away. She has hope. There are many who won’t ever know this kind of hope. Our ministry host-who started this women and children’s home-did something when the Lord asked her to leave the States and go to Honduras ten years ago. She didn’t know what lay ahead in the journey, but she was obedient to the call. Prayer was no longer enough for her. And thank heavens because so many women and children have been adopted and have found forever homes with loving families because of her ministry.
I sat in her office our last week there while she calmed a scared and frantic fourteen year old Honduran girl on the phone. Her mother was selling her daughter for sex so that she could go buy drugs. The young girl was hysterical on the phone and my host, Gracie, prayed with her and talked with the missionary about the process they will have to go through with the authorities. I prayed silently while she prayed with the young girl and my heart broke…yet I was singing Hallelujah because she was being rescued! So many aren’t. And I met this beautiful young woman a few days later. I can’t describe that moment. It was bittersweet.
I’m not saying everyone is called to go overseas and start a children’s rescue home, but I am saying that we don’t do enough. There is so much in each of us! We so often go about our lives seeking after what makes us happy and never tap into God’s power within is, itching to make it’s mark. And we don’t realize that joy is found in the sacrifice for happiness. America’s problem isn’t that we are the richest country in the world, it’s that we are the most comfortable. People have a fear of losing that comfort. I know I did. And it still is something that brings me pause when I think of leaving it again, if I’m being honest. But, what if being uncomfortable could bring freedom to hundreds of others? Did you know that the average age of children trapped in sex trafficking around the world is TWELVE? Twelve. How do we explain that to our children and future generations when they ask why it’s still a problem? Because we were too scared to do something about it? That it was someone else’s job?
But here’s where you have to see the hope in it all…that love wins at the end of all this. The victory has already been won, we’ve simply got to show up to the battle. Our faith moves our God to action. He could end world hunger and all the hurting all over the world in an instant, but then, how would He be glorified in us? How would we grow in our faith and trust of Him if He did that? Would we understand hope? We’re here to have relationship with Him and do something about those who don’t.
The kicker is that even though I wish all this pain in the world would end, it is also what draws me closer and closer to the Lord in these deep heart cries. It is here that I am able to understand more about His mercy, His grace, and His love. I understand better the verse that He has pointed me to time and time again, “the deep cries out to deep.” And I find that I am the little girl who is trying to fight it and in the end, simply wants to lay my head on my Saviors’s shoulder and let Him catch me. And He is longing to do so, to be my ultimate comfort.
Why do I share this with you? It’s not to make you feel guilty. It’s not to harp on Americans. Everyone in this world has a responsibility to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves, not just Americans. But America is my home and I feel a responsibility to bring us out of this mindset I was in myself. I simply want to cause a stirring. To ignite a righteous anger that I hope creates a movement in which this generation chooses to do something about the injustices we see and hear about all over the world. Let us rise up to fight against this darkness that is destroying our world. Bit by bit. We can’t do it alone and we can’t do it without the power of our amazing God. He didn’t cause this epidemic and He didn’t just allow it to happen. There is a battle we enter into when we accept Jesus. We accept His love and His grace, but we also accept the responsibility to usher that light into this world; to shine light into the darkness. We need to be willing to stand up against it, and when there aren’t people to fight, evil will simply continue to win. Enough is enough. And victory won’t happen overnight. It can only come with insistent persistence.
That persistence is able to endure only because of love. His love is required to bring about the change in hearts. And what I see on the other side is hope. I see babies like Sophie who, after experiencing love and freedom, grow up loving well and spreading it to those around them. I see children who were trapped in the arms of strangers and being used for sex set free, growing up and becoming world changers themselves. I see those that had them in slavery repenting and experiencing love themselves for the first time, getting out, quitting drugs and finding real jobs to support families they love. I see darkness fading away and light all around us. I see hope. My hope is you can see it, too, and we can do something to bring it to fruition together.
“May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you may ABOUND in HOPE.”
(***Sophie’s name was changed to maintain her privacy)
So…what can you do?
- Keep praying but find ways to do something!
- Read The Locust Effect by Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros
- Bring awareness for signs of abuse and human trafficking to your community. check out this link for some good info: http://m.state.gov/mc42492.htm
- Donate to organizations that are doing something about it. Some I’ve encountered that are doing it well are: Daughters of Cambodia, Wipe every tear, A21 Campaign, Brazos de Amor
- Be a part of the movement on the ground OR help support someone who is; I wouldn’t be here without my amazing sponsors. As much as we need people to go, we need people to support the ones who do as well.
- Sponsor a child at risk and those like Sophie. You can sponsor through many organizations that are geared towards prevention. Compassion, One Child Matters, World Vision and even the organization we were with in Honduras needs financial support for these kids. You can check out their ministry at http://www.heartofchristhonduras.org
