Finding time to write has not been easy in this rich month! From early in the morning to late in the evening, we’re either at our ministry site, praying and worshiping, debriefing the months, preparing for home, or cleaning, painting, having team-time, exercising, running errands, or cooking meals! Life is full and good. I feel it, that ribbon stretching across our ribs as we cross the glorious finish line. What a year it has been! There may never be another like it.
So this month we’re working with Sarah’s Covenant Home, which cares for over 100 children with special needs. Naturally, a country that worships idols is going to be superstitious; and the main reason that these children were orphaned is because their parents considered them cursed and abandoned them! One girl in particular is seven years old and two feet tall. When her parents realized her condition, they left her in a graveyard until someone found her. But praise God! she is soon going to be adopted by a family in New York City, and will have loving arms to call her home.
Sarah’s Covenant Home is split into five different homes, and Megan and I have the joy of knowing nine boys at “Wisdom Home”! They are 18 months to 16 years old, some with Cerebral Palsy, one with a heart condition, one with a mental delay, and another with dwarfism. I’m not going to say that coming into this month, I wasn’t super nervous! But when I asked God for His heart, He gave it, and I find myself growing more and more in love with these kids. I love to hold them in my lap and help Resal clap has hands when we sing to him. Megan and I help them walk with their braces and count their fingers; and since they don’t have more than four toys, we have to get creative. I like to swing them around the living room and tickle them until they’re exhausted with laughter. And then we play soccer with a crumpled up piece of paper and watch movies on Megan’s laptop.
Every day is a marathon, taking all the breath we have; so I keep telling Jesus, “It’s only by Your strength that I can run this Race”.
I took a deep, deep breath the other day, when I finally realized how I’ve been breathing in short ones. THAT is not because we’re so busy, but because India smells “interesting”. The first breath brings in fermentation; the second, essence of restroom rarity; the third, rotting fish mixed with burning trash and something that makes your eyes water; and the list goes on. But as we rode in an open-air tuck-tuck (an auto rickshaw with three wheels and me hanging on the front), flying through the country and nearly off a cliff, I caught it! My first breath of fresh air!
Like that breath, when I realized that I hadn’t truly been breathing until then, I wasn’t truly breathing in some areas of my life until Jesus set me free this year. I’m reading through my journals, of when I struggled with things that stemmed from any misunderstanding I had of God’s grace. And probably–more than likely–today I am not “breathing” as well as I will be next year. As 1 Corinthians says, “We are being changed into the glory of His presence”, and it is “something He planned and spoke into being long before we were born”. (2:7)
This year I asked God for life, and He gave it to me in the form of freedom and knowing better my identity in Him, which hopefully you have witnessed along the way. He is a good Father, and He called me to do this Race so I could know Him better. “He asked You for life, and You gave it to him…and made him glad with the joy of Your presence.” (Psalm 21:7)
Many of the children at Sarah’s Covenant Home are not able to respond to us when we talk to them, and we just “love ’em up” and let them know that they are special. I heard Teresa make a good point this morning, when she said that the way we love these children, who are unable to reciprocate, is the way that God loves us. He loved us when we were unable to give anything in return. He loves us through our messes and all. I’m so grateful to see myself in a new light this year: that I’m a mess and God loves me through it! I want to love others with this kind of love.
I will be home in 18 days, and am in need of a car.
Would anyone like to contribute? $23 for my 23rd?
