Love In Action

A cool story. Last night (Saturday night) was one of the hardest nights yet. Probably THE hardest. None of the kids were obeying. Most of them were crying and fighting and the whole house just felt like chaos. And there I was trying to understand the sobbed out Spanish. It felt a lot like a spiritual attack and I felt really helpless. But then I started praying. For peace in the house and for peace to reign in the hearts of the girls. For them to know the love of God. So all this is going on and finally I decided to sit with one of the little girls who is having a particularly hard time feeling loved and valued. At first she didn't want me to sit with her and kept trying to run away, but all I could do was hug her and tell her that I wanted to be with her. That I love her. That we could pray together so she wouldn't feel sad anymore. And--God worked in that situation. It was so cool to see how each time I told her I loved her she calmed down more and more. We ended up reading a bedtime story together. I started reading it in English and she wound up finishing the book. Also, this little one is usually really difficult to get to go to sleep, but when she finished reading she said to me that she was feeling tired and would go to sleep now. It was a moment of answered prayer. Of love softening hearts. Of a glimpse of peace after the craziness of earlier in the night. I pray that all of us who work here can continue to see past the bad behavior and to just love the girls. And to tell them that often. They soak it in and it really does change them. Praise God for giving us love when we don't deserve it. And what a challenge and a blessing to pass that love on.