Photos of my heart

These faces are precious to me. Each. individual. one.

THIS is the ministry that God has blessed me (us) with over the past few months. Smiling, joyful, energetic, and crazy kids. What a blessing! And while these kids are like any other in that they enjoy running around, being silly, playing with friends, etc., they are different in that they already have a history and a background that we can't even imagine. These kids come from Burma, Nepal, Iraq...they speak other languages, they worship other Gods, they celebrate different cultures...yet have somehow made their ways into our back yard. Some remember what it was like to go hungry in their war-torn country, some have family members that didn't make it out, but they all have hope that their lives will be different here.

I have that same hope.

My prayer for these kids is that God will transform their lives. That He would draw them to himself, show them that He is THE way, THE truth, THE life. I pray that I can be a stepping stone along that path. That I can some how, some way impart to them a tiny inkling of the love that I know God has for them.

But along the journey of playing with these kids, running around and being silly with them, having reflective conversations with them, I will probably leave our relationship more changed than they will. They have opened my eyes to true joy. There is nothing like hearing my name yelled by one of these kiddos, receiving the hugs they give, and being sought after by them as one highly esteemed. They have opened my eyes to the lost. As beautiful, unique, and fun as each one of these children are, they represent millions of people from all over the country and world that don't know Christ.

These kids are precious and honored in God's sight. I pray that they would know that. I pray that our ministry to them would be solely to bring glory to God, and not to ourselves. This is my heart's cry:

Isaiah 58:9-10
If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

I pray for this little girl.