The Miracle of You

Over the last couple of months we have been talking about Miracles in our newsletter. 

First, we let you walk in the shoes of a young girl, born to a mother who would become a widow, and a young girl who would become a widow herself, to illustrate the destructive and perpetual cycle that creates orphans in the first place. Within that, it is easy to see why someone in that situation would deem the love you show them as the manifestation of a miracle. Because it is.

Next, we talked about miraculous outcomes.

Through the words of the children themselves, we are able to truly see miraculous outcomes as orphan children without hope have been transformed into young adults; with every hope in the world. Children who have grown up in a loving atmosphere with proper nutrition, a good education, God’s Word and everything they need, not just to survive, but to thrive as young adults who are now giving back to their own communities. We can clearly see God’s influence in their lives. And their love for Jesus and their understanding of His perfect sacrifice are very apparent in their actions and words.

But what we have really only touched on, is the miracle of you.

The simple truth is that none of what I just wrote would be true if it weren’t for you. None of it.

This is not about any of us breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back. And it’s not because any of us have the power to reach out and touch someone to heal them. 

What it is about is faith.

It is about the faith you exhibit when you follow in the footsteps of someone you have never seen or physically met. Someone who lived a humble life of sacrifice, feeding the hungry and healing the sick. Someone who died nearly 2000 years, and in doing so, made the greatest sacrifice in Human History. 

It was the greatest sacrifice because He could have simply walked away. He could have called ten thousand angels and then just simply walked away, leaving mankind without any hope. But, instead, He chose to stay and sacrifice himself, enduring unspeakable suffering. 

But death wasn’t the end of the story of Jesus. It was only the beginning. For then, He performed the greatest miracle ever performed by rising from the dead and walking away from His sealed tomb. 

That is the story that was written down for all of us to read. And then choose whether or not to believe it. 

Untold millions have chosen to believe throughout the nearly 2000 years past. Untold millions have chosen to become faithful followers and the key word here is followers.

When you follow Jesus, you are walking in his footsteps, literally and figuratively. And where did His footsteps lead us? Where did they lead you?

They led you to live a life of compassion. They led you to make sacrifices. They led you to recognize your role in helping those who suffer needlessly. In telling them the story of Jesus.

When we first started working in Russia 21 years ago, the help we were giving was welcomed; but at the same time, it was questioned. A few years later, we faced the same questions in India. Then in Africa, the Philippines, Pakistan and even Mexico.

The question was always: “why?” “Why do you want to help strangers in a foreign country?” 

And the underlying and unspoken question was always “what do you want in return?”

When we told them it was because we believed that we were doing what Jesus would have done and that we believed that God wanted this done, their eyes would “open wide.” They wanted to know more. And as time passed and we asked for nothing in return, they began to trust us and eyes began to turn towards God. 

Now many of those we chose to work with were already Christians. But they were Christians who had struggled and suffered in their efforts to help orphan children. They received no help from the government. Very little help from the community. I am sure it shook their faith. They told us as much in more than once case. They wondered why God would let the children suffer. Why it was so hard for them to accomplish their goals of doing good.

So, you can just imagine what it must have been like for them when we started to help. When YOU started to help. When strangers from thousands of miles away, oceans away, chose to help them, help others. 

Their prayers were answered. Their faith renewed. All because you chose to follow in the footsteps of Jesus whose example of compassion and sacrifice has survived the centuries that tried hard to make it a distant and faded memory.

Through centuries of wars. Through centuries of changes in cultures. Through disasters and persecution. Through outright attempts to make us believe that Jesus was nothing more than fictional character. His example has survived. You are living proof.

That is the real miracle here. 

All good comes from God. Including His son. 

Including you.

We live in some strange and difficult times that are having a detrimental impact world-wide and when it comes to the welfare of orphan children, there is no merciful exception to be found.

The COVID Pandemic has created tens of thousands of new orphans world-wide and the governments in the developing nations we work in do not have the means to support them. Nor do the communities they live in, struggling themselves, just to survive.

Never before in the 21 years we have been doing this work, has it been more important, more needed. And never before has there been such an opportunity to show His example in our actions.

Already you have answered the call. You have made it possible, even during these difficult times, for us to EXPAND our programs rather than contract them. For us, and for the children, that is a miracle.

We are beyond grateful to each and every one of you for all that you do to make this mission possible. We couldn’t do it without the miracle of you.