Sometimes, this weird thing happens when you travel to third world nations. Beyond the squatty potties and rice and beans and tin roofs, this apathy creeps in. It leaves you hopeless and complacent and calloused.
I’ve seen more poverty than I ever really thought was possible. I’ve sat in the tin shacks and mud huts around the world and prayed with people. I’ve visited the hospitals where I’ve seen children literally dying of starvation where I’ve begged God to move. I’ve looked into the eyes of mothers and fathers desperate enough to beg or steal or sell their bodies.
At first, my heart was in shambles and I would just cry and cry. I was so broken when faced with the brokenness of the world. But eventually, the weight of that sorrow got too heavy and I couldn’t carry it anymore. When I once had hope to bring the “least of these,” I found myself utterly hopeless. I became desensitized because instead of carrying that weight to God, I kept it to myself.
Today, I was with a team in a super impoverished barrio here in Costa Rica. Whenever we come here, we have to wear closed-toe shoes because their sewage runs through the barrio and inevitably human waste will wind up on our shoes. A group of us were walking around inviting kids to come to VBS and I realized that this truly was one of the more impoverished areas I’ve been to. I felt my heart ache like once before and I said out loud to Madison that “this never gets easier.” But throughout the day, I remembered that in a way it does get easier because you see it so much and it just becomes “normal.” But poverty was never intended to be normal!
This squad I’m leading is still in their first month on the World Race. They are amazing and their hearts are breaking for these impoverished ones they’re being exposed to. One of the (many) prayers I’m praying over this squad is that they’ll continue to be tender hearted to the world’s brokenness even after being around it endlessly. My prayer is that they’ll bring that brokenness to the only One who can do anything about it. I believe the heart of God breaks every day over it, so why shouldn’t ours? His heart doesn’t get calloused, but He sends His anointed ones to bring hope, freedom, and provision.
