Washed Away

As I was having my morning Confiding Time and praying for all those whose homes, businesses and cities were ravished by Hurricane Sandy, the Lord reminded me of another horrific storm.  He also reminded me that I never told you, my sweet bloggy friends, about that storm.

It was April 2011 that Emma and I led the team of 19 women to Uganda to serve.  Many of the women on that team were such a blessing….serving joyfully and passionately the orphans, street kids and the poor.

And it was on that trip that Emma led the team in making PB and J’s, placing them in baggies and then walking the streets in groups and serving the sandwiches to the poor and street orphans.

We weren’t sure if this man was even alive when George {our son} checked on him.
The man, as it turns out, was very thankful for that peanut butter and jelly sandwich 
and sat right up and ate it.  

It was a powerful time of ministry. 
Life changing to be sure.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about this little girl we met here.   
My life will never be the same again after looking into her eyes.
How could it be?
Emma and Lynne with these two little guys
who giggled and giggled when they were given sandwiches. 
Their arms so frail.
But their smiles so huge.  
We loaded them up with sandwiches…
as you can see from the ones sticking out of his shirt pocket.  

It’s heart wrenching.
Today they will eat. 
But what about tomorrow?
Anyway, the night after handing out the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches 
we were woken in the night by a horrific storm.   
The rain was like anything I had ever experienced. 
 Emma and I both sat in our room, whispering, talking and praying. 
 I even texted Dw to tell him that there was a storm that sounded 
like a hellish nightmare and would he please pray?
And then we remembered:
  
the orphaned street children

Where do they go during the horrific storms?
We were frantic thinking about it.
How terrifying for each of them to have no one to hold you and whisper:
“We are safe.
God is right here with us.
I love you.
I will protect you to the best of my ability.
Emma and I sat praying and pleading for their safety.”
We had just looked into their vulnerable eyes a few hours earlier.
We knew their faces.
We had touched their weak little arms.
Emma and I prayed for hours.
We could not sleep.
They were alone, without anyone to care.
And so today, as I pray for the lives affected by Hurricane Sandy,
I cannot help but think of the street orphans around the world,
living life alone, every.single.day., 
struggling to stay alive,
with no home.
Ever.
Not even for a night. 
And that’s why we are committed to our Frontlines Feeding+ program,
which serves food to the street orphans, while caring for some of their medical needs, 
all the while telling 
them about the Only One who is completely trustworthy.
The morning after that horrible storm in Uganda we heard that one of the street boys
 had been washed away and
 had drown during the terrifying storm.

Seriously, who can imagine?

As you and I pray for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, please join us in praying
for the street orphans around the world.
They need us to pray.
Then they need us to do something!
Join a missions team and GO love on the kids.
Give to a feeding program.
Pray!
God will use every.single.effort. we make because
His heart is for the orphan and He works through ordinary people,
like you and me.
How amazing He is.

12 thoughts on “Washed Away

  1. Sigh…some days this world just breaks my heart into itty bitty pieces…so much need…so much heartbreak…somedays my heart just can not handle it…

  2. heartbreaking. I hate reading this kind of thing, but I still read because it is something we need to be reminded. God has put them on my heart as you know, but there are times that they can be forgotten in a way- life just gets going and you forget their plight- then you read somehting ike this. It is all real again. Keep these posts coming!

  3. I'm reading this only maybe an hour after a day FULL OF RAIN here in Kampala! It rained cats and dogs earlier around 4 and again at about 8, the rain came down in sheets and the water pooled, although it sounds as though even that was not NEARLY as bad as what you all experienced! And we were completely safe! Praying now for all the kids we've seen along the side of the road only because they're yelling "Mzungu!", but still. (Me and mom were saying we need to learn the Luganda word for "Where" so when the kids yell mzungu we can look up surprised and say so that they can understand "Where!?!?!?", haha)

  4. hi, Sorry this is off topic. I am going to be in Denver, CO and looking for a church to visit the weekend of Nov 16 -20 and I would like some recommendations. I figure some fellow PCS readers live in the area. I know Linny has connected many people through her blog! Just looking for a place to worship with some brothers and sisters I have yet to meet. And Linny, I am single, 39, never been married, and want to adopt someday. If you can change the single and never been married part, that would be awesome

  5. Oh my goodness, that is heart wrenching! Tears….. Oh how I wish I could do more! I so want to adopt again, but the doors have been closing. I'm sending you a check soon with a little story that goes with it. It's definitely a God thing….
    R

  6. This is so heartbreaking. The thing that keeps occurring to me is that this is almost more "real" or more common than our very safe "1st world" situation. Not sure that this makes sense, but it was an impression I was left with when I visited Swaziland this summer. This post reminded me of that!

  7. As others have said, "Heartbreaking!" It is unimaginable. In a few weeks our country will rush out to stand in Black Friday shopping lines after having eaten to beyond full just the day before in "thankfulness." And here are these children so thankful for a PBJ, maybe the most food they ate that entire week or longer. It is just hard to imagine the life these children lead and to realize they have no shelter, no comfort, no Strong Tower to run to, unless we tell them, and unless we Go.

    1. Amen @thesleepyknitter couldn't have put it better. It breaks my heart that the sinfulness of my flesh so quickly loses its understanding of Christ and His desire to care for the fatherless the widowed and the poor, and to "thank God for what I have" and then keep it all to myself. It makes me sick just thinking about it.

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