From Children in Crisis to Children in Christ!

Last month I was blessed to attend a training held by Crisis Care Training International, a ministry of WEC International, in which I was empowered to work with children in crisis. During this intense training, my spirit was grieving for the broken children around the world as I heard some heart wrenching statistics and saw videos of those hurting little souls. One of the modules was exclusively talking about street children. Based on one of the statistics mentioned in class, there are approximately 100 million extremely underprivileged street children who struggle to survive in today's cities. And if you were to count one street child per second, it would take you 3 years and 2 months to count them all! I still can't wrap my mind around that staggering statistic.

The street children face many challenges and traumas on a daily basis in order to survive. One of those dangers are the street sweeps done by the police, people in the community, and even contracted individuals who go out looking for them only to hurt, torture or kill them. In the book "Street Children", edited by Phyllis Kilbourn, I read something that blew my mind and here's what it said:
"This childhood-if we can call it that- ended several years ago on the main street of Ipanema, Brazil. The body of nine-year-old Patricio Hilario da Silva was found with a handwritten note tied around his neck. It read, 'I killed you because you didn't study and had no future. The government must not allow the streets of the city to be invaded by kids.'"

It is evident that the person who killed Patricio had no idea he killed a boy with purpose and destiny in God's eyes and that His kingdom belongs to children like him! To give you another example of what a child in crisis goes through, but most importantly to remind you of the hope we find in Christ, watch this video and listen to the lyrics of a song titled "Beautiful Slave".
Beautiful Slave Video

Yes, the need is great and the numbers of broken children are huge, but my God is still seated on His glorious throne and has given us hope, Jesus Christ! His finished work on Calvary was sufficient to restore and heal all of humanity. He has heard the desperate cry for help, love, acceptance and freedom from these children and is seeking them to heal and restore everything the enemy has stolen from them. He wants them to be children who are in Christ! How can I be so sure of this and why do I have such a deep compassion for these children? Because I was once a child in crisis myself, I silently cried out for someone to rescue me. He heard my cry , came to my rescue, healed and restored my soul! Now the hope of glory, Jesus, dwells in me and all I want is what He wants, to see broken children and families restored.

The Countdown to Relive the Day That Changed My Life!!

I am only two months and a few weeks away from returning to Iloilo City, Philippines, a place where God showed me what and who is in His heart. I was there for a ten week internship that was made possible through the partnership of Christ for Nations Institute and the mission agency, Go To Nations. Although my departure in January will be a bittersweet moment, it is with great anticipation that I wait for that day to arrive. I have so many memories and a lot of stories to share, but there is one I would like to share with you that shook me to the core of my being.  

On this particular day, I found myself surrounded by heaps of reeking trash, but it was also the day that I looked into the eyes of God’s most precious jewels! I couldn’t explain why I had so many emotions flooding over me as my team and I walked from house to house inviting the children, who called the city dump their home, to go to a ministry event on the following weekend. As I spent time with God’s little treasures, I came to realize that God was allowing me to feel anger towards the plans the enemy had laid for these children. My emotions were also mixed with extreme sadness as I witness the terrible condition in which they lived in. I resolved to allow myself to feel these emotions, but most of all the joy that surpasses all understanding in knowing that Jesus is the hope of this world, and He has chosen me to tell them of the good news! I gave up my plans in order to go after God’s plans for my life. His plans for me are to heal the brokenhearted, bring hope to the poor, break the chains of prisoners and set the captive free, through Jesus, who is mighty to save. I found my purpose and destiny as I found God’s treasure hidden in the city’s dump!