My first month on the World Race is now complete. It was spent in a valley village in La Ermita, Honduras. The village name actually means “the resting place” which is very fitting considering the ministry I served with is “Corazon de Christo.”
Here at Heart of Christ women who are victims of abuse and rape are given a place to live and raise their children. Well actually, they’re more like girls. The two who reside here now are 14 and 16. The women who have lived here, have been victimized by their fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, pastors, friends, strangers. The sad truth is that the list goes on. Women here have little to no rights and the culture allows for such injustice. The operation is headed up by Gracie also known as Momma Gracie and her husband, Papi Lee.
We were greeted at the airport with pizza and soda. Gracie has long blonde hair with a purple streak. Like a superhero. She is. We all packed like sardines in to a bus with our huge packs and headed off for the mountains. Driving through the dirty, crowded city center in Tegucigalpa, then past lush green trees, then mountains and open fields, I was just amazed. I am here. It’s happening.
In Tegu my heart was moved looking at all the bright houses. Clinging to the mountains for dear life. It kind of looks like someone laid out a perfect little village. Then they put their arms around it and squeezed it all in tight. Crowded. Gasping for air.
The ride was really awesome. The Lord’s sweet presence was felt so strongly on the bus. I was sitting with Margaret and Caitlin. They felt it too. We would all alternate between crying and smiling. Trying to process all that we were feeling, experiencing and seeing.
In all of it, God kept speaking one word to me over and over and over…
Hope
As I looked in all the faces we passed, I saw it. It’s been on all our faces before. In our eyes. Welling up from some place down deep. Hurt. Gnawing at our souls. That ache for something more. The yearning. The startling reality that we are incomplete. The restless feeling from the hole in our heart. The desire for a savior. Even when we don’t know we are lost.
As I stood face to face with it, realizing God has asked me to walk deep in to the world’s pain, He spoke that sparkling promise to me: hope.
He told me not to be bogged down or weighed down by the enormity of the pain in this world. Because hope is here. He is here. He is our Hope. And He is our Savior. The Savior we all need. He is the Savior we all want.
