Constant cries filled the room as I stood there holding the most beautiful brown haired, black eyed baby. Cold concrete walls and floors caving in around me. My heart ached as I realized the pain that plagued the rooms of the orphanage I stood in. Many of the children too young to even comprehend the reality surrounding them, while others knew exactly that the classification of “abandoned and orphaned” would forever identify them. So many innocent lives desperate for someone to call them their own, yet no one willing or available to do so.
It was that weekend, those children, that moment that forever changed how I would live my life. I had vowed then and there that I would stand in the gap for those broken, hurting, and forgotten. I didn’t know it then but it would be that experience that would launch me into social justice advocacy and change how I would forever live my life.
…the greatest thing we can do for mankind is to do something. Anything. He is calling us to go. Even in moments of doubt, fear, and worry, He says ‘Go.’ People need us to go because people need Jesus.
Fast forward fourteen years later, and the desire and longing burns even greater than it did as a sixteen year old girl holding the sweetest baby girl in a lonely orphanage in Mexico. For the last eleven years, God has called me to serve in and lead short term missions in Honduras. My heart feels something deeper than what my eyes can see; I feel the pain. I feel the hurt. I feel the brokenness. No child, no human, no one should ever be subjected to such poverty and injustices. Not in Honduras. Not in America. Not anywhere. Year after year, I step foot on the soil of the country that is known as ‘The Murder Capital of the World.’ Often times I’m questioned why I go. “But if not me, then who?” I respond. Sometimes confidently. Sometimes weary, worried, and questioning as well. But who will go if I am not willing to?
Over the years, God has shown me that the greatest thing we can do for mankind is to do something. Anything. He is calling us to go. Even in moments of doubt, fear, and worry, He says ‘Go.’ People need us to go because people need Jesus. This burning to share His love with the people and children of Honduras has also been coupled with the desire to share the message of sexual integrity with young girls overseas and at home. Seeing so many ‘something teen’ girls trapped in sexual impurity is heartbreaking. Their view of ‘true love’ has been undeniably twisted by a culture driven by immediate gratification, sensuality, male dominance, and a constant searching for self-worth in another human. I’ve spoken to countless adolescent girls whose lives have been scarred by a skewed mentality of love. Each of them searching for something they think can be fulfilled by someone else. But the truth is, what they’re searching for can only be found in Christ. This message is fueled by a longing to see young woman live out their calling fully as they walk with Jesus.
I have made this my lifelong covenant to love, give, and reach out. I can’t forget the despair that has stared me in the face through the eyes of a six year old living in the city dump. I can’t forget the warm embrace of a pregnant thirteen year old deeply longing to be loved by a Greater Love than the fleeting lust of an unfaithful human. I can’t forget the pain I saw in the raw and calloused hands of a ten year old boy working to make ends meet for his family’s survival. It is because of these people that I go.
I choose to fight on behalf of the broken-hearted giving voice to their silent cries.
My heart can’t rest knowing people are perishing not knowing Jesus, that innocent children are suffering a myriad of injustices, and that poverty is claiming countless lives as its own. I choose to fight on behalf of the broken-hearted giving voice to their silent cries. I pray that I can continue to be the person who invades city dumps and dilapidated villages offering everlasting Hope and Love. I must charge forward because the world needs Jesus. I must go because if not me, then who?
With that said friends, keep fighting the good fight of faith. Don’t give up. Seek justice. Love mercy. And walk humbly. People need you because they need Jesus!
Cheers!
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