Last year at this time I was getting ready to leave for South Africa with BreAnn. As I have been thinking about it, I have been remembering what I learned over there. I have not really posted about it. I only shared it at church, so sorry you get to hear this again. But I went to an orphanage called the Love of Christ. It was for infants and children up to age three. If they were not adopted out, the would be adopted into the main family. There were a lot of babies there. Practical skill wise, I learned how to feed children really fast, change diapers really fast, make baby food, work with children with disabilities...and so forth.
I have come to realize that God has given me the gift of compassion. But I have a heart for the poor, for the marginalized, abused, for the sick, and if it was not for that, I would not be going into social work as a career. One of the verses that continued to speak to me throughout my stay was "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" Ezekiel 36:26.
It is easy for people to have compassion for those who have been in a place of abuse, for orphans, for people who have come through horrific circumstances. But it is not so easy to forgive and love those who are the abuser, who are the oppressors, who are mean and detestable. God loves them, so shouldn't I?
I am not saying this is an easy thing. I have been struggling with loving people who have hurt me. But I have come to a place where I can forgive those people and honestly I want them to find Christ and I want them to feel loved. I know that we have all have our personal stories and you might be ready to hear this. Some of you might feel still angry at those who have hurt you. Some of you might be in denial of people you have to forgive. But I will tell you a little secret, something that has taken me a long time to learn: forgiveness key for a healthy relationship with God, it enables me to help let go of bitterness. Sometimes, you may never hear a person tell your they are sorry for what they have done to you, but you have to forgive anyways. If you don't then you create bitterness in your heart, and I will place money on that it is rarely bothering the person you need to forgive. Really we are the ones who are in charge of our own emotions. We are the ones who say I am angry at you, I am sad, I am happy.... I am also not trying to validate an abusers actions and trying to write them off, but there is a point where you have to let go.
Some of the parents of the children who were at the orphanage did detestable things to their children. There was a little boy and girl who was there. When the mom came to visit, she never came to visit with the young boy, just the girl. She was also a prostitute, it makes you worried when you know her history and when you know she is only interested in getting the girl back in her care. It does make a person mad.
"You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven...If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not the tax collectors doing that? and if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that?" Matt 5:43-47 What good are we if we only love the selected few? I think we don't often talk about it because we live in a society that likes to be comfortable with Christianity. Or we go on other religious crusades but forget about the fundamentals of Christianity: Love. It is the greatest commandment. The cool thing about it is God gives us the heart of flesh to do it. It is not Marian, but God.