today Catherine and I ventured out with our translator, Marilou, to collect
more information for our census. Since this is our last week here, we are
trying to get everything wrapped up and finished for the next team to use that
comes through. We went into a community that the two of us had not gone into
yet. It had been severely damaged by a flood last October and the remnants of
the damage were definitely still visible to the eye. I was wondering what to
expect, but we were immediately greeted with smiling faces of children.
Children who wanted to be loved. Children who just wanted attention. Children who were starved for affection. Children who wanted to
constantly hold our hand or rub our back. Children who wanted to serve us.
Instantly
a little girl was holding my hand and wrapping her arms around my waist. She
was 10 years old and I believe her name was Lonnie. I asked her several times,
but that’s all I could gather. 
She stayed by my side the entire time we were
there. She held my hand, she rubbed my back, and she directed us to which
houses to go to so that we could collect the information we needed. At one home
we walked up to, neither parent was home, but there was a 3 year old and baby.
The 3 year old had just taken a bath and we needed her picture for the census.
Without being asked, Lonnie went straight over to the girl and helped her get
dressed. We got to one home and I was standing outside the door waiting with
Marilou when I heard Lonnie say,
“sit“. I turned around to see a
stool she had gotten me to sit on while I waited. Not to mention, each time we
were walking to a new house, on all the uneven ground and hills, she would be
holding my hand and look up at me with her big brown eyes and say, “You okay?”
in the sincerest voice.
As
I was standing there looking down, her arms wrapped around my waist looking up
at me, I couldn’t help but think that she was such a tangible picture of who Jesus is.
She was serving me. She was loving me right where I was. She was wanting my attention and my affection. How accurate this is of
our Heavenly Father who sent His Son to earth to serve and love the people he
came in contact with- right where they were at. He wants nothing more than our
attention and our affection. He desires our servant’s heart, but first and foremost
He desires our
love. 
“Jesus
replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second
is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Lonnie I saw such a clear representation of Christ’s love and his desire for my heart-to be truly captivated by him. His desire to be all I need, even
when I feel torn and pulled in all directions. Through Lonnie I also saw the
second commandment lived out to the fullest. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” She
loved me
and served me
in the most sincere way that she knew how– even though in reality, I was there to serve
her
and the
community she
lives in. Funny how God works-this morning I had no idea that a 10-year-old
little girl would reflect the Father’s love to me in such a precious way.
