As I walked up the steps leading from the basement of Rescue, the Sarah’s Covenant Home (SCH) I lived in last month, I had to clear a path for a parade of ayahs (Indian word for caregiver or nanny) and children I didn’t recognize passing by. My womanly instinct yelled at me that five new babies was like Christmas, and I rushed into the house to find out if they were here to stay—and then maybe hold them for a few hours.
Sarah, the founder of SCH, and some of my fellow racers excitedly told me that they had gone to the government orphanage to pick up one child and left with an additional four. As I picked my jaw up off of the floor and looked at Sarah, she just shrugged and said, “God told me these children needed to come too, so we took a few extra.” From the nonchalance of her tone you would think she accidentally picked up a few more items from the store than were on the list, but the shine of excitement in her eyes clued me in to the passion she had for every abandoned child. For the first time since starting our first hectic week of ministry, I observed the scene around me and thought about the wonder of the organization I was partnering with that month.
Sarah, a short, blonde woman from the Midwest, came to India on a mission trip and met James, a native Indian man on fire for Jesus. They fell in love, got married, and came back to the United States so that James could attend seminary. James’ desire to spread the gospel in India, the most unreached country in the world, took them back to India to create ICM (India Christian Missions). After about 10 years of helping her husband run ICM, Sarah felt the desire to adopt a special needs child. One thing led to another and it became evident that adopting was not in the cards for her family. Sarah, discouraged and depressed, was approached some time later with the idea of opening a special needs children’s home.
The mere idea seemed daunting initially. Where were the funds going to come from? Who was going to help with the legalities? In addition, the likelihood that the government, whom wasn’t entirely fond of Christians, would approve the opening of a Christian children’s home run by an American seemed pretty slim. But Sarah ignored the odds stacked against her and stepped out in faith to follow God’s call. At her initial meeting with the government agent, Sarah nervously handed them the papers for the general plan for her children’s home. The man behind the desk skimmed them over, looked up with a pleading face, and asked, “Why would you only take five children initially? How about you take 30?”
Ten years later, SCH houses over 170 children in two cities in India. The four houses in Hyderabad, India, where I stayed this month, are all located in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city just a few blocks down the street from Apollo hospital. Each of the houses have four stories, with each floor housing a foster mom whom acts as a long-term parent for a group of 10 or so children. The houses have around-the-clock nurses, physical and occupational therapists that visit weekly, and a personal ambulance in case of emergencies. In my time there, I helped the foster moms start up a preschool for blind children that in the near future will be opened to the public and boast trained teachers. In other words, these children are taken from a place of neglect filled with dark rooms, little attention, and straw mats on the floor and are given the best of the best in terms of facilities and unconditional love.
A common question I’ve heard asked by non-Christians in defense of their unbelief is, “If there is an all-powerful, loving God, why does He allow ______ (fill in the blank: children to die of starvation, disease, poverty) in the world?” The story behind SCH is a perfect answer. God doesn’t sit idly by twiddling his thumbs and watch the consequences of evil in the world unravel before Him. Instead, He calls regular people like you and me to act as His hands and feet. Whether or not we listen to the call and step out in faith determines if the injustices of the world are reversed and people get the chance to experience the love of God. Sometimes doing God’s work on Earth looks risking your savings to start an organization to give sex trafficking victims free education and housing (like my ministry contact in the Philippines did) or starting a “small children’s home” that turned into a ministry supporting almost 200 kids. Other times it means supporting the kingdom of God with prayer of finances. All of SCH’s funding comes from people across the world monthly sponsoring a child.
We all have different roles to play in acting out God’s love on Earth, but every now and then each of us should ask ourselves if we are obeying what God is calling us to do or instead, just sailing through life working the 9-5 job without giving God the opportunity to intervene.
**Several of the children I fell in love with at SCH last month are still in need of monthly sponsors. If you are interested in supporting one of them, email me at [email protected]. Internet is scarce in Africa so I might not get in touch with you right away, but I promise to respond ASAP. Thanks!
