Hope

Our tiredness from the two hour, hot bus ride didn’t dull the effect. It is not a place I’d want to live—an orphanage. The buildings were in disrepair, the girls slept two to a bed…. Melissa and I had made the trip that morning to visit the orphanage, and I’m glad we did. 

We met so many girls—I wish I could introduce you to L, who sat quietly in the back. P, who is from a ways away and loves fish soup and is quite outspoken and was eager to practice English with me. A, who has been there for 2 ½ years and spent the time flipping through a newspaper from a few days back. S, who walked around without shoes, and was a little mentally handicapped, and kept giving us hugs. The girls who were so eager to play and talk and for any interruption from the boredom. There was no hope for an interruption that day…no hope for anything to do other than sleep and eat. No activities, no nothing. No hope. 

Many come from abuse, from gangs, from having prostituted themselves on the streets. Many try to escape the orphanage, and the gang members help to carry them off. Some of them return to the gangs, others the gang members want to keep quiet—permanently. Last week, one of the girls escaped and appeared in the local newspaper, dead. Many have fled from families, and only know the gang life and prostitution. What hope do they have outside of that? 

I am praying for the girls I met—that they may know God the Father, Christ the hope of glory, and the inner-dwelling Holy Spirit who gives strength for each day. That they may grow in the love, the hope, and the power of Christ. The faith and the hope to strive for a better future. That they may know the comfort, joy, and purpose each day of the Lord. What else do they have? 

But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,
   the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
   and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
   I will not forget you!
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
   your walls are ever before me. Is. 49:14-16 

Though my father and mother forsake me,
   the LORD will receive me. Ps. 27:10 

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18 

There is hope. Oh!!! That they would know that!