Voice of the Orphan Blog

The Scars of Jesus

"Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel." –Isaiah 45:15

Many years ago, God spoke to my heart about a foster child with whom I was working, a Rwandan girl who had survived the genocide, and said, "Love this one as your own, and watch Me." I didn't understand, but I reluctantly tried to do my best. She had been told her parents died during the genocide, but she wanted to go look for herself. When my organization took a trip to Rwanda along with government and business leaders, I was burdened to take her with me.

While in Rwanda, she was the only one who saw the needs of those around us with the compassion of Jesus.  We would "tour" around, but she would reach out to anyone she could, which was often very inconvenient for our group. She knew anyone she met could have been a distant relative or even her immediate family.  Finally I agreed to take her to look for her parents, and while we were driving around I heard God say again, "Watch Me."

We passed a group of children playing, and she cried out, "I think he's my brother!" I said, "I'm so sorry, but you don't have a younger brother. Remember, you only had an older sister and an older brother." And she replied indignantly, "Well, I must have a younger brother, because he looks just like me!" I agreed to take his picture before continuing our search. We drove around some more and stopped to inquire with a group of people; and low and behold, they knew someone who knew someone and in no time my friend was crying and embracing her older sister. "I can't believe it's you!" her sister cried. "Mom and dad are alive! Our older brother was killed during the genocide, but mom had been pregnant, and you have a little brother!" Sure enough, it was the very same boy we had seen earlier.

Her parents were being unjustly held in jail, so we went to the prison to find them. My young friend had not seen her mother since she was 8 years old, and more than ten years had passed. When the warden brought in her mother, she cried out repeatedly, "Mamma, mamma, mamma!" And her mother, holding back the tears, said, "No… No.  It can't be you…I have already mourned the death of my daughter!" Then, as her mother came closer, she cried out, "Wait… it is you! I knew that if someone day I found my daughter, I would recognize you by the scar on your face which you got as a child!"

And just as I began to wonder what I was doing witnessing something so intimate and holy, God whispered to my heart, "Just as my people will know me by my scars…" That moment stands out as perhaps the most profound experience I have ever had with my Savior, my Friend, and my God. I felt like the apostle Thomas—as if I was touching the scars of Jesus with my own fingers. 

Every step along the way we have seen miracles and have had the opportunity to stand amazed at God's work. Her mother has since been declared innocent and released from jail. The journey is not over, and in the midst of the joys and the wonder, the headaches and the heartaches, we continue to see God's hand as He reveals more of Himself and His treasures to us. God has said, "If you seek me with all your heart you shall surely find me." God is waiting for us amidst the poor, the needy, and the orphan, waiting to reveal His miracles and Himself—treasures hidden in the darkness.

In what ways has God revealed Himself or His treasures to you? What would your life look like if you pursued His treasures more than anything the world has to offer? What steps can you take today to seek Him out by caring for those in need?

Inward Transformation

"…every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." – John 15:2

The cry of the human heart is for purpose.  As Christians, we may be asking God to show us His will for our lives and to help us fulfill our purpose on this earth.  We want to walk in the steps that God has prepared for us and be used for His glory.  Our hearts cry, "Show me Lord!" And we wait longingly to hear from Him through His written Word, through others speaking into our lives, through circumstances, and through that still small voice which speaks to our souls. And then it happens – the moment arrives, and the message seems clear.  At long last the Lord calls us to go to a certain place, to begin a certain endeavor, to be in relationship with a certain person, or to accomplish a certain task.  Perhaps God has said, "Love this particular child as your own." Or perhaps He has even said, "Adoption".  Whether with fear and anxiety or in great strength and excitement, you find yourself compelled by this Word to step out and fulfill His call.  And then the road starts to get too steep, Trials come, roadblocks are in our way, or we may even have reached what seems to be a dead end. Though I really sensed this message was from God, why am I now finding myself unable to climb the mountain, wait any longer, or believe this "thing" will ever come to pass?

There is great controversy these days about the recently released writings of Mother Theresa that speak of her own "crisis of Faith".  She wrote of an internal sense that the God who called her to work among the poor and needy was often not there with her in her loneliness, trials, and pain.   How can we, like Mother Theresa, keep believing and running the race which God has set out before us, even when we do not "sense" His presence or "feel" that we can win or that the thing He has spoken to us will ever come to pass?

As we are going along we may be attacked by the enemy or affected by the sin of others, but God is ultimately interested in changing us. Life is not primarily about what God can do with us, but what God is doing in us, because God is less interested in using us to do great things and more interested in preparing us for Himself.

"God may ask us to do a number of specific things for Him within the context of the great and general call to be His children.  His overall goal for us is always inward transformation – dying out to our old natural ways and to our demands to express our own egos, so we can live a full life in Jesus Christ"  -Ronald E. Minor.  So it may not be that you have heard Him incorrectly, but that He is using these trials in order to prune your soul and make your bear more fruit.  "Your life is being 'cut back,' most likely you will misunderstand the purpose for this at least for awhile.  It is not to kill you, or curtail you, but actually to expand you – to fulfill you according to God's greater purposes" -Ronald E. Minor.

Cry of the Orphan

“Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.  Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.” –Psalm 10:17-18

How did Jennifer Leber, a woman from the wealthy suburbs of Northern Virginia, with her gold hoop earrings, end up ministering in such a remote, poor, and dangerous place as Northern Uganda?  What compelled her to travel the treacherous routes from the much safer city of Kampala, Uganda, to the war-ravaged and unprotected land of Kitgum, Uganda.  When I had the opportunity to meet her in Uganda in May of 2004, I asked her, and her response has profoundly affected my understanding of the heart of God.

She told me how she and her husband had left their very secure lives and his law practice in Virginia and had come to serve as missionaries in Kampala. Although it was considerably less comfortable than their lives in the States, most would consider it far from life-threatening.  She said that one day she had a notion, completely out of the blue, that she was to go to Kitgum, but she immediately dismissed the thought as random. However, just in case it was from God, she was quick to remind Him that it was far too dangerous, and she ought not go. 

For more than 18 years, Northern Uganda has been the battlefield of a terrorist war in which children are brutally conscripted into fighting by the most inhuman actions known to man. Children are tortured by having to kill their own parents and by having their lips and noses cut off. They become too scared and too scarred to escape from the terrorist ranks of the LRA for fear that their village will never accept them again.

Days after she first had the thought of going to Kitgum, Jennifer was at home in Kampala doing her dishes, and the notion of Kitgum returned. This time, however, it was far more pronounced.  Then the Spirit of God spoke directly to her soul, “Can’t you hear my children crying?”  She knew this was the voice of God, and those in pain were His children. 

It reminds me of when Paul the apostle was asked by God on the road to Damascus, “Why do you persecute Me?”  We must not forget that God takes the pains of the lambs in His care personally!

And so, compelled by the voice of God Himself, Jennifer and her husband, Phil, went north and began to minister to the orphaned children of Northern Uganda. 

When a group of leaders from Focus on the Family, Family Life, and Shaohannah’s Hope were seeking the right name for the 2007 Media campaign to rally the church to greater involvement in the lives of orphans, Cry of the Orphan was among the names mentioned.  When I heard this name I was immediately taken back to my discussion with Jennifer and the words God spoke to her heart, “Can’t you hear My children crying?”  I believe that is God’s question to all of us in His Body.  “He who has ears let Him what the Spirit is saying to the church.”

Act Now

By Scott and Kerry Hasenbalg, with Nick Lyndon

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."- Proverbs 31:8

Millions of orphans are waiting for hope. How are we to respond?  What now?  What about right now?

This moment waits for us to act. We are not promised tomorrow and yesterday is past. God invites us to offer up each moment of our lives to Him so that we might have life.

It is not primarily through extravagant acts of sacrifice that we step out of our self-centered lives and inject hope into the lives of others, but rather it is through small acts of love done in humility by God's leading. Through the small things we escape from our own prisons of selfishness and despair and enter into His overflowing life of abundant joy, with Jesus as our example. Opportunities hide in plain view right in front of us and are ours for the taking, if only we will reach out. There is truly no time like the present to show hope, for "now is the only time we have with which to do anything."

What if we were to awaken from our sleep of blissful ignorance and find that we are strong? What if we were to shake off our chains of self-indulgence and find that we are alive? What if we were to take up the burden of Christ, love each other as He has loved us, and find that we are free? Ah, then we have come to it: if you want to be blessed, you must simply be a blessing. For it is in striving to be first that we find ourselves at the last alone, weary, forgotten, and unloved. When we instead go to those who are forgotten and unloved, we find the pearl of great price Himself, hiding this very moment, waiting to be discovered. He offers love and joy; He offers peace and purpose. His scars are real, but then, so is His glory.

It is in the small things we must take care to be faithful, for these moments steal past us to be sealed forever. Yet when we grab a hold of this moment, we touch eternity and catch a taste of the life promised. It is in the here and now we proclaim the not yet and the still to come. With every thing we do or don't do, with every kindness we offer and every gift we withhold, with every opportunity we miss and every chance we take, we shout with actions louder than words what it is we really believe and where our hope truly lies. May our loving actions to orphans in distress reveal "Christ in us, the hope of glory." A broken world waits to see what is real, and we find that all we have is this moment in which to do something about it.

What now? Act now.