this month for ministry we get to work with an orphanage for special needs babies. so, as you can imagine, i’ve been on cloud nine.
to protect the kids, the orphanage, and also myself, i’m not allowed to take or post any photos or use names! sooo the names i do use, i’m just gonna make up. deal? ok great.
this small orphanage was started by a couple from the states and is staffed by some incredibly sweet local bolivian women called the house mama’s. no words could begin to tell you how wonderful they truly are.
the first day we show up to help, we meet with pete from wisconsin. pete from wisconsin has kind eyes and a loud voice, but not like he’s yelling. he has a baby on his back in a carrier. he looks exhausted and talks quickly. he invites us into the back yard, which turns out to be his front yard. him and his family of 8 live in the house behind the orphanage. he is incredibly loving and gentle with the screaming children running around him.
he tells us about the orphanage and the children who live there, about how it was the desire of his wife’s heart and so they came and built a building and took in babies that no one else wants because of their needs or disabilities. he tells us this last year has been unbelievably hard for multiple reasons. this has lead to a shortage in staff members and just all around depletion of energy for everyone involved.
his son tyler runs up and begins whinning and pulling on his clothes. pete tries to get him to go play with his brother but the little guy just wants his dad. he pulls him up in his lap and faces tyler towards us.
he gently says, “hey buddy, remember how we were praying for help?”
“yes…” tyler replies with a blank look.
pete from wisconsin points towards us. “well, this is them…”
tyler’s face erupts into a grin and he takes off to play with his brother.
i think my face gives a polite smile, but my heart is almost bursting. what did he just say!? did he just say that we are the answer to their prayers? that they asked God for provision, and that He met that prayer with…us?
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:14-15
before i applied and left for world race, i asked God. i asked Him if this was His will for my life, if this was something i should do, if He would make it abundantly clear that this is where i was called. and He answered. i listened.
it’s one thing when God answers your own prayers. when you see Him provide for you in ways you could never imagine. but it’s a very different thing when it turns out that you are what He’s providing. it’s exciting and astonishing and humbling.
He is intimately involved in the lives of His people. He provides us with answers, and sometimes He provides us as answers. we just have to ask, and then listen.
