So yesterday, I went to along to drop off the children from kids camp. We traveled about 1 and a half hours to the countryside of Romania, which was absolutely beautiful. There were wildflowers growing everywhere, horse-drawn wooden wagons, and streams. Although I was surrounded by so much beauty, my heart was turning inside of me. Earlier that day, one of the girls sat down next to me. I could see that she was crying. I asked her what was wrong, but of course, she only spoke Romanian so she didn’t understand me. I knew…..I knew she didn’t want to go home. God only knew what was waiting for her when she got back. I specifically rode in the van with her and her siblings. I didn’t want to leave her to face this alone. As we pulled up to the house, I saw her mother, and 3 more children waiting for them. The van was already full of 6 siblings. Even though they were extremely poor, they invited us in to see the house and the grounds. I had to use the bathroom so bad, I couldn’t hold it, and so when I asked to use the toilet, I was directed to the blue painted, wooden outhouse. I had no choice but to use it, there was no way I could hold it for another hour and a half. When I got inside I was repulsed, and these poor children use this bathroom everyday. I can’t imagine what it is like when its snowing and freezing cold outside. The second van pulled up and more kids jumped out from kids camp. It turned out they were the next door neighbors of the kids that were in my van. When we were at camp, and our contact had told us some of the children had been sexually abused, the kids from these two houses were the ones that I had suspected of being abused. How interesting that they lived right next door to each other. I saw two teenage boys come out of the house and my stomach continued turning. After being a school teacher, and dealing with cases like these, you learn to point out real quick what’s going on. The children were all over me, hugging me, holding my hand, not wanting to let go. I didn’t want them to let go either, I didn’t want to hand them over to this. After a few minutes, when our contacts started unloading food for the families, I saw a pair of eyes peaking over the fence. I knew…..its him. The cause of all of this destruction. He finally came out of hiding and sat in front of his house. To see how the teenage girls from the family reacted when they saw him and passed by him, confirmed it for me even more. It was obvious he (the father) was very sick. Spiritually sick, physically sick, mentally sick….it was as if he wasn’t even there, and the evil spirits he allowed in had completely taken him over. I did everything I could to save face for those kids. I pulled one the teenage girls aside, the one who seemed to be struggling the most, and I told her “I know bad things happen sometimes, but God is always with you. He will take care of you.” I told her she was beautiful and not to let anyone tell her otherwise. We hugged and hugged…I didn’t want to let go. The man glared right at me as I told her this, he knew I had read his mail. I think he knew that I knew the moment I saw him. I wanted to lay hands on him so bad and cast every nasty demon out of him, that, or yell and scream in his face. But I just loved on those kids and never once gave him a dirty look or made a nasty comment, because I knew that Jesus didn’t want me to. I knew I had to surrender it to God, He is the only One who can remedy this situation. It was beyond me. I left with such an anguish inside of me. How could I love children and teenagers so much after only knowing them for 5 days…and how could I just let them go, not knowing what they would have to endure that night?
Today, I started reading SexGod by Rob Bell. It is a Christian book that has completely rocked my whole world, and I’m only on chapter 2. Two things stood out to me.
1. With every decision, conversation, gesture, comment, action, and attitude, we’re inviting heaven or hell to earth.
2. Have only one response: LOVE.
Ask yourself, in the toughest situations you are facing today, are you responding with love?
