I am walking up to a door with Ali and Haley, two very excited girls, all dressed up in their prettiest pink outfits, hoping to please their mommy, whom they haven’t seen in several months. The door opens and I see an ashen skeleton; behind her are a few men obviously as strung out as she is.
I am POWERLESS. Everything in me wants to scoop up the girls into my arms and run away, as far and as fast as I can. My legs begin to shake, and I am trying not to cry as I hug the girls and say good-bye. Their little faces have fallen and fear is starting to consume them.
There is only one place I can go – to my knees. By the time I reach the girls, I am crying. A week later my precious 5-year-old calls and begs me to come pick her up . . .
“They burned me with a cigarette.”
“We have no food; Haley was given only cat food all day yesterday.”
“Mommy got mad at Haley and made her stay locked in her room all day.”
“I was only able to call because a boy here felt sorry for me.”
“Please come, Aunt Vicky, please help me.”
My heart felt like it was being right out of my chest as she spoke. I don’t know how I managed to stay calm and try to encourage her.
I committed murder in my heart that day. I was furious that anyone was hurting my babies . . . but God was furious too!
I called the police, I called Social Services, I pleaded with God – but no one came to rescue my babies.
In my brokenness I went to the only place of help I know and I want to share with you what God spoke to my heart . . .
Isaiah 49:14-26: The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me…. Your sons shall make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste Shall go away from you… Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, And set up My standard for the peoples; They shall bring your sons in their arms, And your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders; kings shall be your foster fathers, And their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, And lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD, for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me…. the prey of the terrible be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, And I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Those promises were my lifeline for the next 10 years. And I watched God fulfill every word of it….
Today, my 21-year-old Ali is serving full-time as a missionary in Sudan and my 19-year-old Haley is going to college on a scholarship to be a Christian family counselor.
My Father cared for my girls in their greatest hour of need; when no one else intervened, He was there. He upheld them and revealed Himself to them!
1 John 3:1: Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God!
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