He Is Faithful

(written on my flight home Thursday...)

When I began this trip two weeks ago, I wrote a blog as we flew, about the message I was getting from God about this trip. Even before we had flown away from the US, I sensed that I was going to see not just how the enemy was attempting to destroy, but also how he was losing to a God who was bigger than he was. From the scriptures I was reading, and the songs I was hearing, I could tell that God was going to show me the spiritual battle that is going on in the world of the orphan. And, how important it was that we fight on their behalf. But, I didn’t really know what that would look like...

And, now I can say that I saw it. I saw the evil. I saw the enemy. He was there in the dump, where hundreds of people eat off the ground and are sick and poor and desperate for love. He was there in the form of discouragement and loss, that you could see on the face of so many children who feel unloved and unwanted. He was there in the tribe that kills their own children, because the deceiver has made them believe that this rids these tiny precious babies of evil. He is there in the form of disease and destruction and despair…and poverty. He was there in a deep, dark way in the days of the genocide in Rwanda. He sought to destroy an entire group of people, and almost did. He has torn apart the lives of so many, leaving children with nothing left but nightmares of the day their parents were killed in front of their eyes.

I saw him the day we visited the Noel Orphanage, and observed the awful conditions, and the overstuffed rooms full of dozens of children, sharing filthy, disease-ridden beds on the cold, hard floor under a moldy ceiling. I recognized the enemy when we heard that a 15 year old boy died of an illness that night. It was totally treatable and preventable, yet now he is gone. Death. Sickness. Filth. Desperation. I saw it all at different points.

But, then, in a way I can only explain as the faithfulness of our Great God, I saw something greater than all of this. I saw people who have given their lives to love these children and to provide for their needs. I saw nannies and caretakers who selflessly spend their days cleaning up accidents and washing piles of laundry by hand. I saw children who were anointed by God for GREAT things and who were sharing their gifts, and blessing OUR lives this week. I heard stories of resilience that you wouldn’t believe. I listened as children shared their hopes and dreams with our team. I watched children love on each other, hold each other up, comfort their brothers and sisters, in deep, loving, Christ-like ways. And, every single day, God did not let me miss the child He had planned for me to meet. Not because I was going to impact their lives that day. But, because they were going to impact mine. They were going to show me the GOOD among the evil. They were going to reveal to me how much GREATER our God is than the enemy who thinks he has won this battle.

He has not won the battle for my friends Tezita or Bethlehem from the dump in Ethiopia. He has not won the battle for Promise or Esta in the Sister’s orphanage. He has not won the battle for Gnawie or Ebenezer, who have been rescued from tribal death rituals. He is not able to overcome the power of our Lord, who protects and loves and anoints my friends like Betty, Devota, or John. He can not interfere with the hundreds of children God is placing in homes through adoption. Yes, the enemy has found ways to slow it down and make it hard. But, it is still happening. Children are being joined with their forever families. (There are three of these families on this flight as I type!! Praise God!)

What I learned on this trip is that God is winning, even in the midst of the darkest of dark. Yes, the enemy is working hard. It is truly a battleground for the lives of orphans, and we must war for them. But, God is not idle. He is active. He is faithful.

And this faithful God who treasures each one of these children, KNOWS who holds the battle in His hands. There were a couple of times on this trip when I asked Him how He could let this continue. How he could hold back from just destroying evil and rescuing each of these kids from their pain.

But, then I would remember that He knows them, He has redeemed them, and He has called them each by name. They are His. (Isaiah 43)

It is not for us to question why or how God is working in orphanages like I have visited. It is just an opportunity to join Him where He is, be an outpouring of His love on these kids, and recognize His faithful Hand in every place. That's how we win the battle.

Thank you Lord, for showing me…Great is Your faithfulness.