This summer I will be interning with an organization called Orphan Relief and Rescue for about a month, and from there the Cartersville group will pick me up to go visit our precious babies with Orphan Aid Liberia. I will be a Child Development intern for Orphan Relief and Rescue, meaning that my job could entail anything from bathing babies to organizing Bible studies. No matter what task I am given each day, my number one reason for being in Liberia is to love these children with all of my heart. On my mission trip last summer, I'll never forget telling the children that God loves them unconditionally. As soon as those words left my mouth, I realized that those children have no concept of what unconditional love looks like. Who has ever loved them unconditionally? Who has ever been there from day one? Who has not abandoned them?
If nothing else this summer, if nothing else in my lifetime, I want these 147 million children to know that they are so, so loved. That, yes, maybe they had to endure the tragedy of being abandoned, but that they are so incredibly loved by a Father that knows every hair on their head. I want these kids to know the little joys of being loved. I want them to experience bedtime kisses and birthday parties. I want a Mommy there to kiss their boo-boos and a Daddy there to play airplane with them. I want these children to go to bed every single night knowing that when they wake up, they will have someone to love them in the morning.
As I've told people about my trip this summer, I've gotten the same question more than a few times. "Haley, why don't you save the money and help here in the United States?" I understand why people ask that. My own parents asked that same question before I took my first trip to Liberia. I do believe that there is so much to be done here. There is so much poverty, so much homelessness, so much hatred, and so much loneliness here in the United States. I believe that anything we can do at home to help our brothers and sisters is a great thing. But I would be lying to you if I told you that the children here were in the same kind of need as the children in Liberia. There are children in Africa commonly referred to as "street children." That means that they live on the streets with no parents and no home. They have no food. The water they drink is dirty, and therefore makes them extremely sick. They aren't provided any education. They have no laws that protect them against abuse. While there is need everywhere, I've never seen need like this. Jesus called us to love ALL of our brothers and sisters. He didn't just say to help the ones that were convenient to help. It would be a beautiful world if we all stopped deciding WHERE to help, and simply helped anywhere.
Finally, I want to address a question a friend recently asked me. She said, "Haley, do you think you're qualified to do this?" My answer to that question will always be no. I am convinced that I will never be spiritually "ready" for something like this. I will never be good enough. I will never be pure enough. I will never have read enough of the Bible. I will never pray as much as I should. I have done things that I would be so embarrassed for anyone to know about. For goodness sakes, I'm the girl that passes out at the sight of blood and has a phobia of vomit. I am an absolute wreck. But I do know that God uses horribly broken people. I do know that above all else, Jesus called us to love God and love others with everything we have. I do know that love is the greatest of all things, even when it asks for all of us. And I do know that God is asking me to do something. He is asking me to love His children. He is asking US to love His children.
No comments:
Post a Comment