Weary! April 2016
4 AM: Weary, in need of restorative rest but awake.
Not all of us are able to shut off our brains when we most need to do so. After weeks, months of 12 – 14 hour days /7 days/week; I am in need of rest. Yet, I find myself awakened by the thoughts of the little ones God has entrusted into our care at Tranquilidad, Home for Children, in Honduras.
At this date, we have five children ages 3 years to 4.5 months and are having to say ‘no’ to other babies who have been abandoned. Why do we have to say ‘no’? First, we have been advised by our local pediatrician to not take more infants until our first ones reach 6 months of age. However, in 6 weeks they will be praise the Lord! It has been awesome to see them grow and develop especially the one who was born so sick and almost died twice in his 2nd month of life.
Secondly, when they are 6 months of age, we may not have the funding to care for more children. This is hard! This is what has me awake this night. I am wondering how to share our story and our need with those who could easily, should they so choose, help us?
In Matthew 11, verses 28-30, Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Admittedly, some days the ‘yoke’ of being a foreign missionary and ‘caring for the least of these’, can feel burdensome and heavy. Satan wants us to feel fatigued, discouraged and defeated. But the Word tells me that this yoke, which I am privileged to wear “is easy and light”. When I look into the faces of our children, listen to them giggle, watch them learn to turn over, sit up, crawl and walk; or learn to listen and be obedient; avoid the ‘time out’ chair; or bath them to lower fever, sooth them after vaccination shots, walk them when they just need to cry; I honestly know that the ‘burden’ is light.
How is it that the God of the universe would select us to be here? We are so unequipped in so many ways! We are older adults; our energy is not that of a young adult. When we look into their faces and hug their little necks; however, we remind ourselves that everyone of our friends who are living in North American have nothing on us! We truly feel privileged to ‘look after orphans in their distress’ (James 1: 27
It is with a grateful heart, a humble heart, that I ask each of you who may read this to consider making a monthly tax-deductible donation to Tranqulidad Foundation. We want to care for more children but the reality is that our donations fall short of our expenses. This home is God’s home. These children are His. This mission is His dream. He will provide for its needs. But He does allow each of us to have a part in making His dream a reality.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15:12-14
What does laying down one’s life look like? For me and Sam, it meant selling our home, purchasing foreign land and moving to Honduras in our retirement years. Overseeing the construction of this home and now caring for these little ones. That is a radical decision! One made in shear obedience to His call and not of us.
Can you forgo a dinner out each month; take out coffee, a manicure, hair coloring, a golf game or tennis match, a weekend excursion to help us each month? Or maybe $100/ month would require no sacrifice on your part. I ask you to please consider doing far and above what you think you can. Make yourself uncomfortable so you can share in the story of these little lives and those to come who have been abandoned but now have a hope and a future thanks to the love of their Heavenly Father.
Please understand that I am very uncomfortable in this role of asking for financial help. But “you do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2b) So I have been asking God and He has told me to tell you of our need. Now I have and now you know. The question is, how will you respond?
These little ones have come to Tranqulidad for a safe and secure home in which to grow into all that God has planned and purposed for their lives. Please be a piece of their tapestry.
Roxanne