This is Why…”The Fruition of Hope”

I can’t speak for this family. But I have been doing this long enough to have a good idea. A good idea of the hopelessness they must have felt just a few short months ago when you read their story in our November Voice of the Orphans.

Back then they were hungry every day. Just scraps from caring neighbors who have very little themselves. Back then the cold from damp earth they slept on seeped into their bones and infected their skin with tiny parasitic fleas that grow hundreds of times their original size as they feed on the flesh of their victims.

Back then, every day was the same as the day before. An endless recycling of the prior 24 hours of hopelessness and boredom. There was no school to expand or stimulate the minds of the children. No work for the widowed mother other than the constant begging for food.

Back then, tattered and filthy rags hung on their undernourished bodies, and even in a culture of poverty, they were shunned for being so dirty.

But even when our Director, Harrison, suddenly appeared and entered their lives, I doubt very much that there was any trust that he would actually help; and even less that he would continue to help. After all, no such thing had ever happened in their lifetime since the children became fatherless and their mother a widow.

So, you can imagine their lack of belief when they first met him and he bought them food. Even when he returned with more food and a nurse from the clinic to treat their infections and rid them of the fleas. And what about when he told them we were going to build them a new home? And fill it with furniture? A table to sit at and eat as a family? A couch to relax and a warm, soft, bed to sleep on?

They couldn’t have even dared to hope that it was true.

For what evidence did they have from their lives that would give them such hope? And when he told them why and gave them a Bible, they must have just sat and stared, but still dared not to hope. For although they were raised to believe in God, their trial had been a life-long trial. They had only seen the worst that life has to offer. They had never had a foundation on which to build their hope. Quite simply, it was a word that held no meaning to them.

But they had prayed. And one day, just like any other day, our director showed up and everything changed. Everything changed forever and their old life was cast off in an instant.

Yes, they now have food every day. Without begging. Their skin is clean, and along with it, they have gained their dignity and are no longer shunned by the people in the sprawling rural village. The children are now allowed to go to school and their minds will be opened and their eyes will shine from the stimulation that learning brings.

Yes, they dine together around a table and relax and talk on the couch afterward. They sleep warm and comfortable in a soft bed, safe in their home behind closed doors.

Yes, every day they become healthier, and in time, the fear, hopelessness and pain of the past will fade and their new life will become familiar like a comfortable pair of shoes.

But they will never forget.

They will never forget the man with the Bible who showed up out of nowhere and changed their life forever. They will never forget when he told them why. When he read them James 1:27 and told them that it was because God loved them that he was there that day.

A man didn’t send Harrison to the door of their mud hut that day. And a man didn’t take credit for what God’s Word had instructed him to do either. Because from Orphan’s Lifeline International to the donors that share their financial gifts, the motivation and the reason are all the same. It’s because God loves them and he considers it perfect religion to came to their aid.

This isn’t just a story about hope, but a story about hope transformed into belief and belief transformed into faith. Faith in God where all good things come from. And the good has only just begun for this family. The transformation from a life where hope didn’t exist to one where they can now begin to dream of all the possibilities this life has to offer. It is truly a story about the fruition of hope. This is Why.