From the Darkness

The Blessing of Verity is a blog I follow regularly, but this particular post kept bringing me back over the course of a week.  In many ways it is full of hope, describing the positive changes for children in an orphanage in Eastern Europe and particularly in the life of a little girl named Katie.  But it also shows the reality that there are still children left and there are more children living in similar conditions in different orphanages in the same country.  I left  the blog with my emotions raw and turned to my devotions.

Right now I'm on the fifth or sixth reading of a book called Real Moms . . . Real Jesus by Jill Savage.  It has been a huge encouragement as a mother in my relationship with God and my family.  That particular night I started reading chapter 10: The Truth About Our Emotions.  What struck me was not what the author had to say, but the bible passage she used.  It reminded me of the Musser Family behind The Blessing of Verity.  They were the first to adopt from this orphanage and helped to bring to light the severe neglect of these children.  They have recently returned from adopting Tommy from the same orphanage since bringing Katie home.

Jill Savage uses the example of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11.  She says "When Jesus finally arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days.  The grief was overwhelming as the women led Jesus to Lazarus' tomb.  When they arrived at the place where Lazarus had been laid, Jesus wept outside the tomb."  I do not know the Musser family personally, but I imagine that there was much grief in seeing the reality of the situation that so many children lived in.

"After spending some time in grief, Jesus made a request.  'Roll the stone aside,' Jesus told them"(vs 38-39).  Just as Jesus did not sit in his grief, the Mussers took action and tackled mountains of paperwork to reach into the darkness for their Katie.

"But Martha, the dead man's sister, protested, 'Lord, he has been dead for four days.  The smell with be terrible'" (v39b).  No doubt they faced push back just as Jesus did.  Quite literally the rooms the children were housed in and the children themselves had a terrible smell.  And there are always questions, perhaps in their own minds and certainly in the minds of others.  "Why would you take this one?  What about your retirement?  What about the children you already have?"  And the list goes on.

"Jesus responded, 'Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believe?' So they rolled the stone aside.  Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, 'Father, thank you for hearing me.  You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me'" (vs 40-42).  Putting aside conventional wisdom, the Mussers trusted that they would see God's glory in the midst of the impossible.

"Then Jesus shouted, 'Lazarus, come out!'" (v 43).  Being the hands and feet of Jesus they traveled thousands of miles to call Katie out of her hell.

"And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth.  Jesus told them, 'Unwrap him and let him go!'" (v 44).  Katie was unwrapped from the neglect, starvation and fear that she was bound in.  She was not dead in a literal sense, but had been given a death sentence by her society.  She was alive, but not living.  She existed.  Barely.  Because a family had the courage to follow God into the darkness and unknown, the life of Katie and dozens of others have been transformed.

We live in a culture where we want to make our mark in the world.  How much more of a mark can God make if we are willing to follow even into the unknown.

Brandi lives in this orphanage.  Brandi still waits for a family to call her own, to help unbind her from merely existing.  If you know someone who would follow God into the unknown would you share this blog post from Katie's mom with them?

God has a path of faith for each of us to follow.  Where is He calling you?