| “Es una lucha dura.” (It’s a hard fight) A few of us went to visit a little fishing village upon the request of a friend. It seems this beautiful, quiet village tucked away off the beaten path has an extreme problem. Sexual abuse, rape and prostitution are rampant through the village, as is drug trafficking. A teacher/director, desperate for change, began to share her stories with me of heartbreaking situations she encounters with the children of the local school. After she tells the final story, she becomes silent. We all do for a moment. It’s over 90 degrees outside. The one little fan in her office is making great attempts to cool us off, but to no avail. I break the silence to look at the director and say, “You have a difficult job, and I am going to be praying for you each day.” I can tell she feels hopeless. I squeeze her hand to let her know she is not alone. Sweat drips down both our brows as she says, “Es una lucha dura.” Her words echo my thoughts of the last month, it is a hard fight. However, a hard fight that I refuse to quit fighting. We left the school with a plan to embark on a joint project with this school and LightForce. Our drive home was met with silence as each one of us was lost in thought upon what we had just heard. That evening I sat on the beach to spend some time with the Lord. I needed to look at something as powerful and magnificent as the ocean to be reminded of God’s ability to create and control. As I was praying, the Lord brought to mind the verses He had been laying on my heart every day prior: “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever....” Hebrews 6:17-20 I have been memorizing this passage and saying it to myself everyday. I do have this hope and it is an anchor for my soul. “And we have this hope.....” A brothel shut down last week in the Caribbean after a girl on our team had the opportunity to present the Gospel to the owner and pimp. “And we have this hope.....” Last week, we offered coffee and cookies to a prostitute on a routine stop but she said no and instead requested prayer. “And we have this hope.....” A man on our team prayed for a girl working on the streets and hugged her appropriately. She never had a man treat her with respect such as this. She cried hard. It was beautiful. “And we have this hope.....” I got to hug a little girl whose Mom has stopped prostituting her in the border. She smiled a healthy smile. Her eyes looked bright for a change. She’s 13 and finally continuing her education into 2nd grade. The blood of Jesus rewrote history and now we have this hope. |
