Break my heart for what breaks Yours

Today's been a trying day. Alyssa and I decided to "divide and conquer," with Alyssa and Joshua going out to the homes of our community children, and Bruce and I driving out to a CBCC in the village of Malawela with some members of the Gongonya village CBCC. Although Alyssa and I had different experiences, when talking tonight we discovered that we had come to similar conclusion about our days.

Bruce and I drove past village after village and down miles of dirt roads before we reached the secluded village of Malawela--almost an hour's drive out of town. This CBCC is running out of the Malawela Primary School. I'm pretty sure I was the first white person many of those kids have ever seen! As we walked up to the school the majority of the kids were really excited, but of course there were a select few who were so terrified to even be in the same room as me. You would've thought I had sprouted a second head and a pair of fangs.

We brought the members from Gongonya to observe the Malawela CBCC program so that they can improve the quality of their care for the children—we are thankful for all of the volunteers who give their time at the 12 different CBCCs in our area, and we want them to all be running at a high quality level. The CBCCs who have been doing well have been coming along side the CBCCs who are not doing so well.

After the morning class was over, the members were waiting for sugar to be brought from a different village so that they could begin serving the Vitameal porridge. I waited in the classroom alone with the kids, and as much as I tried to talk to them—in Chichewa, in English, in Chichenglish—they were so bashful that they would run away giggling any time I opened my mouth. I resigned myself to just smiling, and I sat in that room just smiling with about 70 giggly 4-year-olds. As I sat there looking at all of those happy faces, I couldn’t help but notice a few things. Like the 3-year-old whose teeth were rotting out. Or the countless kids with umbilical hernias. I couldn’t count the number of children whose hair was brown from malnutrition.

I heard someone say once that trying to make a difference in the world can feel like you're trying to empty the ocean with an eyedropper. There is so much need in the world, and I am only one person. I can feed a hungry child today, but tomorrow morning she and a million other children will wake up hungry again. But it does make a difference to that one child. I have to keep reminding myself of that, because at times it can be overwhelming.

There’s a popular song out by Hillsong called “Hosanna,” and one of the verses says:

“Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like You have loved me;
Break my heart for what breaks Yours,
Everything I am for Your Kingdom’s cause”

Those thoughts have frequently been in my prayers lately. As I sat in that classroom today, unable to speak, I asked the Lord to open my eyes to what He wanted me to see. He's been revealing to me that although I can't do everything, I can't let that stop me from doing something. The past couple months have not been perfect, but they have been some of the most amazing of my life. It's incredible to see what God can do through someone who just has a willing heart to serve Him. All that Alyssa and I have been able to accomplish is because of Him, not because of any talent or gift we possess. On the contrary, we've been accomplishing things that neither of us are gifted at, but I think that says so much about the amazing God we serve.

I won’t go into the details of Alyssa’s day, but if you click here you can read about it on her blog.