So the first story on this trip is one that lined me up to be smothered by God’s love. We often say we get “wrecked by God” and if that is a true analogy then this wreck was an 18-wheeler t-boning a smart car. None of the team was prepared for what was going to happen. As much as the little spirits we were ministering to got touched, we probably got the same dose if not more.
It was early on in the week and we had just come back from one closed country and were about to head to the next closed country. The only thing set on our minds was getting in and ministering to those little souls who were all being taken care of at the orphanages. After an entrance into the country that made you feel like a secret agent, we piled into taxi-like trucks and set off for our destination which wasn’t too far. We arrived, settled our stuff in, and let our eyes loose on 150 kids all waiting eagerly on their benches to see what we had brought them. As we matched their enthusiasm with our smiles, we began doing dances to songs, played games, and did little dramas we had come up with in preparation for the trip. Their countenance all shot up as we ushered joy into their life. After all of this, the missionary we were working with started to give a message to the kids. As he started speaking words of life, even we, the team, lit up as God filled our hearts. He asked them if any one of them would like to feel the love of a Father again. After that last letter was uttered into the air, without hesitation, every single hand of the kids there at the orphanage flew into the air. You see, most of the children were there because their parents had either gone to jail or died from drugs. We all stared at the children with tears in our eyes. The kids were all then asked to come up to the front where our team was if they wanted to receive a hug again like a hug from their Father. We embraced them with arms wide, wide open as they raced right into the team. Some of us had 4-6 kids piled on us at once. Rivers flowed from our eyes as we became vessels of love from God to these little children of His. God was changing and transforming their hearts just from a simple hug.
In that very moment in time, we disappeared and Jesus appeared. We might’ve been the ones who went out and physically walked there, but Jesus was the one hugging them, not us. All we simply did was do what God told us to do. Of course we fed them, gave them joy from dances to games, and had their attention in stories, but nothing was more important than allowing Jesus to appear to some kids who don’t have a father to look up to anymore. Now they know who their real Father is and can live on knowing they are loved by the best Dad in the whole world!
Nothing brought more joy to my heart than this. Simply being a vessel of His love so that He can pour into His children was more than enough to make me happy. I could spend the rest of my life doing exactly that and I know that at the end of it all, I would have not wasted a single day. I will never be the same because of this one moment in the vastness of time. Jesus appeared to His children and in turn, I get moved and touched myself. There’s nothing better than seeing Him do what He does.
Do you know that you’re loved just as much as one of these children?
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