I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible for me, as a mere human being, to comprehend the Lord’s plan for this wayward world. When loss and heartbreak seem to be too rampant to bear anymore it’s so easy to get lost in the hopeless of the situation. We allow our doubts to cloud the view of the goodness of our God. Why must good things happen to good people? Why does God allow children to die? Why doesn’t the Lord lift these lives out of such extreme poverty? Why can’t God just make all the pain disappear? It’s so easy to allow these thoughts to consume us, to control the way we think, the way we see our God.
We seem to so easily forget that God has a plan for us, for his beloved children’s lives. A plan to prosper us, not to harm us. A plan for hope and a future.
Leaving the children in the squatter community of Gerardo Barrios was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do on the Race thus far. I let myself get caught up thinking about the condition of these children’s lives. It was easy to become distracted by the prevalent gangs in their neighborhoods, the violence that runs freely in the streets, by their tin homes, the trash that litters their streets, the lack of education, the brokenness in families. I just want to fix it all. I didn’t want to leave these children living in this way. I didn’t want to move on with my life when they’re stuck in their seemingly hopeless situations.
I tend to forget that God holds them in his right hand. He will never leave them. He will never forsake them. He has a plan for them. He loves them with an everlasting love. I’m so incredibly thankful that He allowed me to be a part of these children’s lives even if it was just for a season. I am so blessed to have been able to love these children, to show them the light of Jesus, to teach them about how much their Creator delights in them.
My God is so faithful. I don’t have the ability to understand his plans,–plans to turn all of the pain in this world into beauty–but one thing I do know is that He does not abandon his children, ever. In this life we, as his children and his followers, are promised tribulation, but take heart, for Jesus has overcome the world.
