Shattered Lives & Redeeming Love

    I sat on the edge of the table, my hand over my heart, feeling the weight pressing down more and more upon my heart and my spirit. I fought back the tears and my heart just broke as their aunt recounted the horrors that these sweet girls had been facing. Sadly, their tragic tale is one that I have heard entirely too often since living in Nicaragua. It's yet another story of abuse and neglect, of innocence lost and a childhood violently snatched away.
    While their story is all-too-common, what I felt in this moment was unique. As I listened, I kept hearing deep in my spirit, "There is something here for you." The Lord began to fill my heart with unexplicable love for these two sisters before I had seen their faces or even knew their names. I knew that the Lord placed them in my life for a purpose and that He had given them to me to love. (To read more, read: Lives Intertwined by the Holy Spirit).

    Juanita (8) and Jessica (7) have been spending their time traveling back and forth between their mom and dad's home since their parents' separation. The girls' dad really loves them, but is unable to care for them full-time because he works all day pushing an icecream truck around town desperately trying to make enough money to provide for his daughters. The girls had been spending most of their time with their mother. Their mom is an alcoholic and really neglects the girls. There has been a great deal of abuse; these two beautiful girls have been living in the midst of a horrible nightmare!
    Jessica finally gathered her nerve to tell her dad about the abuse that she had been facing at her mom's house. Fortunately the girls have a dad who loves them and will fight for them! He went to Mi Familia (Nicaraguan Department of Families & Children) and began to fight for full custody. Their mom didn't want to hassle or the girls so she signed away her parental rights. Neglected, abused, and then abandoned.
    The girls then came to live with their dad. He had to find childcare for them because his work schedule would have left the girls unattended most of the day. The problem is that their dad's small salary is not enough to cover childcare and their basic needs. 

    Fortunately we have a God who hears the cries of helpless abused children and who sees the distress of fathers who are out of options.

    The Lord delights in these two beautiful girls! He put a plan in motion to rescue them with His redeeming love.

    When the girls' dad reached the end of his rope, he confided in his sister that he wasn't sure how he could continue to care for his daughters. His sister and her husband offered to help; they agreed to let the girls come to live with them.
   I truly believe that for the time being this is the best option for Juanita and Jessica. Their aunt and her family will provide the girls with a safe home where they will be loved, protected, and cared for. It is a place where they can heal. Their nightmare has ended. Their lives and hearts do not have to remain shattered. The redeeming love of God will surround them in this home and I believe they will begin to find healing.
    However, this family is already struggling to provide. Now they are taking on two additional mouths to feed and asking nothing in return. I know that the Lord will provide for them in this time, but I do not believe that this will be a long-term solution for Jessica and Juanita.
    I know that the Lord has placed me in relationship with these two beautiful girls. Their aunt confided in me that a big part of the reason she wanted to bring them to Candelaria to live with her family was to put them in relationship with me. I know the Lord is moving in this relationship. The girls are already treating me like a second mom. On Sunday morning Jessica runs up to me and throws her arms around my waist, looks up, smiles, and says, "Hallo mami!" Soon I will have a home whose purpose is to provide a safe place for kids like Juanita and Jessica. I believe that they will become my first foster daughters. I'm still waiting to see how the Lord will move and if this is in His plan, but my heart believes that it is.