Redemption.

Brokenness is the child abandoned by his family. It's the 12 year old girl who was raped by her father, only to be later separated from her sisters because of the child she conceived by him. It's the sickeningly hungry bellies of children, which are growling right now across the world. It lives in the place where children are herded along from home to home because no one has turned up to be a family for them. Brokenness is here, a pervading force, no matter how much we try to avoid it or pretend it isn't there.

I will be the first to say that not knowing, a blissful ignorance of sorts, is easier. It's easier to not remember the quiet stare of a wounded child, or to not know about the cruel injustice a 12 year old faced at the hands of her father. It would hurt less to have never met the girl who has a likely chance of falling into the 85% of orphans from a certain country who turn to prostitution because no one placed a priority on their education. Yes, it would be easier, but as a Christian I was never promised easy...and, what's more, I have greater news of victory against the darkness.

There is a power still greater than the brokenness.

Our redemption through Jesus.

He came to right the wrongs and settle the score, to reclaim the hearts of men trapped by the pain and evil of this fallen world. He came to fix, to heal, to redeem. It cost him his life, but it costs us nothing.
First, he redeems us from a deep, dark pit: then we are offered an extraordinary opportunity as daughters and sons of God.

We can become part of the redemption. God uses us as tools to bring His restorative plan to fruition. By His power, lives are restored.

Sometimes, people ask me why I go on these trips. "There are orphans here, you know," they say. "Why do you have to go so far away?" My answer: God's restorative work is not limited by geographical boundaries. It extends across the whole realm of His creation, and the Bible says to go out into all of the nations and preach the gospel (Matthew 28:19). It says to care for the orphans and widows in their distress, not care for the orphans and widows only where you live (James 1:27). Why does it have to be here or there? The redeeming power of Jesus is both here and there, and I've been called to be part of it in both places.

I've recently returned from Costa Rica, and yet again, God has proven to me the vast expanse of His love and power. I heard heartbreaking stories, made personal because I actually met the children to whom these stories belonged. Despite the pain I saw, I saw God's presence still greater.