Everything changes

Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes." ~David Platt

I read this quote yesterday and can't stop thinking about it. It speaks a lot of truth. Four years ago I was preparing for the first leg of my Liberian adventure. I'd never been to Liberia, I'd ever held one of It's orphans. I couldn't imagine myself living here, holding these little ones on on a full-time basis. 

Then my plane landed. The hot, sticky, West African air filled my lungs and the small, dusty, brown children filled my heart. Everything changed. 

I never thought I would be spending four years (plus how many more?) of my life serving the poverty stricken orphans of Liberia. But maybe I should have. 

I should have remembered...

When I was 18 I was preparing to go on a short-term mission trip to the Baja peninsula of Mexico. I was working nights as a CNA at a local hospital and sleeping days. One day I woke up, read a few verses from my Bible that was on the bedside table and went back to sleep. No big deal. That evening as I was driving to meet with my short-term team I remembered something that shot goosebumps (sometimes I like to call them God-bumps) down my arms. There is no way I could have read my Bible that afternoon-- I had misplaced it. But it was so real, I remembered it so vividly. As soon as I reached the meeting I ran inside to borrow someone's Bible and there were the words just as I had seen them earlier in the day. 

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me  to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair." Isaiah 61:1-3

I didn't really know what to make of the words in my life at that time, but it felt like something of a calling. I have meditated on those words many times over the last 18 years. Often feeling unworthy, those words were also spoken about Jesus. And even though it could be argued that my life is being spent doing those very things right now-- literally binding up the brokenhearted, comforting those who mourn, proclaiming freedom, spreading joy, I don't think it is about this season alone. I (we all?) have been called to a bigger purpose and I pray that wherever I find myself in the world, Liberian orphanage or American hospital, it will be my mission to be living the same way.

Because everyone, African orphan or 'single in her thirties' American, have a name they want known, have a face they want seen, they want to be held, known, loved. And I think we all, through Christ, have the power to change a lot if we are willing to learn, see, listen and hold. 

By the way, I did find my Bible the next Sunday right where I left it-- not in my bedroom, but at church...