Another drop of sweat ran down her back as she walked up the dirt path in the mountainous region of Guatemala. — If they would only come to us, we wouldn’t need to come all the way out here — she thought to herself. She worked as a nurse at a local health center, and today her task was to search out the children who didn’t come to the health center for their vaccines with two of her colleagues. As they walked the village paths, she heard the faint cry of a infant. Shack to shack they went, finding wide eyed children wherever they looked. That cry didn’t diminish. Indeed, as faint as it was, it didn’t seem like there was any response to it. Considering their profession, it seemed like a given that they would seek to intervene or at least see if intervention was necessary; and so they began to follow the sound of that little voice.
As they listened and followed the sound of that faint cry, the homes became further apart and far between, and they wandered outside the village. Latrines in rural Guatemala are often located at a distance from homes and communities, and that is what they saw in the distance as they searched. As they approached, the cry faltered, paused for a moment, and then weakly resumed. They stepped up their pace, raced to the latrine and pushed the tarp door aside. It was dark and smelly inside, and she fumbled with her phone to turn on the flashlight. There was no babe to be found on the floor, but the sound emerged from the opening in the roughly constructed outhouse seat. Sure enough, as they shined the light inside, there he was. Naked. His tiny form laid among the sewer.
They began to yell for help. They needed something in order to reach the babe. Something they could use to pull him out. The seconds rushed by, and in minutes, finally they found a nearby farmer. “Help! Help! Do you have something? Anything? We need something to pull an infant out of the latrine! Your hoe, can we use your hoe? It’s urgent!” Together they raced back to the latrine and lowered the hoe into the latrine and as gently as they were able, they gathered him and pulled him up towards the surface.
Tuesday July 9th, 2019, we received the final signature and authorization to open our Life Children’s Home. The coordinators of the children’s home have been busy preparing a celebration on this coming Friday to announce the opening of the home and going to all of the surrounding judicial offices to invite local authorities to our celebration and make them aware of the opening of our home, so they can begin sending babies our way. With the anticipation of our long time dream becoming reality, I struggled to know what to feel. Was this actually happening?
Yesterday afternoon, the coordinator of our home received a phone call.
–Can you receive a baby?
–Yes!
–Okay, we are on our way. We will be there in 30 minutes.
–So soon??!!
And the scrambling began. 6 days after receiving authorization, we received a nameless baby. 4 days old. 3 lbs 5 oz. We had the privilege of naming him. The couple who will be living in the baby home rushed over, without time to think about gathering their belongings. Protocols which have been in the works for months need to be finalized. This is the culmination of many lifelong dreams and hopes.
More personally, I dreamed of working in an orphanage when I was in high school. A friend of mine shared this dream too. I felt drawn to missionary work, but most specifically orphan care. James 1:27 was my key verse.
Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27
Contemplating life after graduation, I toggled between spending a year with relatives in the Caribbean, where I could serve in an orphanage, and serving in Guatemala with Impact Ministries. Asking the Lord for guidance, I became confident that he was directing me to come to Guatemala. I felt elated to serve the Lord in this way, yet it seemed like saying yes to the Lord was closing the door on my dream of participating in orphan care.
God, in all his sovereignty, has been so good to me. Though I thought I was giving up a dream, he brought it back to me again approximately 6 years ago, when Julio and I were invited to become part of an Orphanage Committee. As part of this committee, we began to dream about how we could care well for orphaned children in Guatemala, knowing how great the need is. Year by year, we saw advancement little by little, among many obstacles, and two years ago we had a building ready to receive babies…but without the approval and authorization of government authorities…our hands were tied.
One part of me is elated that we are able to offer a warm bed and loving arms to this beautiful child. Yet on the other hand, I feel so enraged that this care is even necessary! My heart is broken as I contemplate the story of this precious babe, and I am filled with sorrow. I hadn’t anticipated this surge of negative emotions. What a cruel and broken world we live in!
In all of this, I know deep down in my heart, that in the midst of this broken and suffering world, God uses us as his hands and feet, and I am right where I need to be. I believe that there are no coincidences. My mind wonders; What if those nurses weren’t required to vaccinate children in that village that day? What if they didn’t hear his cry? What if they ignored his cry? What if he had fallen face down? Yet, in his sovereignty, God orchestrated all of these things, including the recent authorization of the home, for a purpose.
May your will be done, O God, on earth as it is in heaven.