October Challenge

My new blog-world friend Molly started a new blog called This Next Generation for and about the young people that God is raising up in the church who are called specifically to loving the orphans. Anyway, her "October Challenge" to get it started off is for us to be purposefully and daily in prayer for widows and orphans around the world. I thought I would expound on that idea by giving a specific example of how we can be praying for them.

I suppose I'll start with a story, what else? I mean, that is really how it all started.


While in Ethiopia, my team and I for just a few short hours visit AHOPE (and HIV/AIDS orphanage) in Addis Ababa. Most of the older children were having school while we were there, so it was mostly all children under the 5 or 6. Some of us took a brief little tour of one of the house where the little kids slept, but it was mostly empty because the kids were outside playing with the rest of our team. Mostly empty.




But...


In one room there was a little child curled up on the bottom bunk of one of the beds, I thought it was a boy, and I thought he was asleep. This wasn't really that surprising, because the further advanced that the HIV is, the more tired and lethargic the kids get. The other thing is, many of them are sick and/or have warts all over them. I absolutely wanted to get out of that depressing room and play with the happy kids outside, and I started to. I'm telling you, I wanted to leave. Right then. But in the Lord's mercy, He held me there and I had the most amazing privilege of getting to stay, to pick up little "S" (she looked about 4 years old), and carry her outside. She was weak and shaky and didn't move her legs quite normally. She didn't smile or talk, just sat in my lap and watched the other kids play while I spoke the little (very very little) Amharic that I knew to her, and some English too. She began warming up, and then I had to set her down to help with a little puppet show that we had prepared for them. It was so much fun, but the very very best part was seeing "S" absolutely shine. She smiled and giggled and even outright laughed while we played with the puppets, colored paper bags, and painted fingernails.

I can't really explain the bond between "S" and me, because I don't understand it. Other than this: the Lord chose for us to spend those few short hours together on that day, on that time, in that way, for His glory, since the beginning of time. He has a purpose for our relationship, even though I'll probably never see "S" again.


The orphanage director's English was very good and he told me that "S" is being adopted!!! He offered to let me write a letter to her family with my information on it so that they could contact me, and he would give it to them when they came to get her. I did, but I haven't heard from her family.


The thing is, since I've been home, I've had a hard time trusting the Lord that He really loves "S" even more than I do. That He really does know what is best for her and will do it. I've been afraid for her health, I've been afraid for her relationship with God. I've been afraid that maybe her family won't care for her, or that they won't raise her up in the church, or that they'll be abusive or neglecting. Or, that the orphanage director was confused, and that they aren't coming at all.

The focus of the October Challenge is to give these precious children, "S" included, who are already the Lord's, over to His care. To pray for them, and to trust Him that He hears and has an even better plan than we do.


I think that there are three ways that we can pray for the orphan crisis: for the children's physical needs, their spiritual needs, and for the church to take action and to follow the Lord where He leads.


Ways to pray for the Orphans
Physical: As you probably all know AIDS is prevalent in almost every country on the world but especially in 3rd world countries where it is taking a staggering tole on the population and leaving so many millions of orphans behind. But God is still faithful and He is still bigger than this horrific pandemic. We can pray that God will have mercy on the children orphaned by AIDS and those infected by HIV. He is faithful through sickness and He is the God who does more than we can ask or imagine. He is a Healing God.


Spiritual: That the Lord will reveal Himself to the HIV positive children of the world and not only draw them to Himself, but use them as mighty tools for His kingdom.


For the Church: Aids is a bad, horrible, terrifying thing. The people who have Aids are not. They are not just a problem to be dealt with, or to be pushed out of our minds and hearts as I tried to do that day at AHOPE. They are children of the Living God. We can pray that God will place the Aids crisis in our faces so that we might be driven to action. My biology teacher is one of the leading DNA specialists working on finding the cure for Aids. He is right in the inner circle of all the newest discoveries and they are so so close! The church can take heart and have hope in that! We can pray for the few Godly scientists in that field that they will remain firm in their faith and determined toward their goal.

"Death is swallowed up in victory

Oh death, where is your victory?

Oh death where is your sting?"

~1 Corinthians 15:55~

"S" and I