When Love Speaks

A moment frozen in time, an orphan’s hand in mine, as God broke my heart for the forgotten children of India. This beautiful child leapt into my heart in the story I shared here You want me to go where??  This simple photo above started a Facebook conversation…

The post read simply, “Love needs no words, no language, just two hearts meeting in the middle of this great big world. My heart will never be the same…”  A friend remarked that a mutual friend of ours was in the process of adopting a second child from India. I replied, ‘I had no idea, she and I should connect some time.’  It was about midnight, and I had a full day ahead of me. I was exhausted from the impact the day had on my spirit, my heart was both full and empty, and I felt both a sense of hopefulness and despair. These beautiful orphan children, the idea that God put me here for a purpose, the impact of my encounter with sweet Penny, and the exhaustion overwhelmed me.  I turned out the light, and a voice called out, “Reach out to her now.”

I looked around my dark room, and thought, ‘tomorrow.’  I tucked into my pillow and blankets, and again the voice, “contact her now.”  Everything in me wanted to pull the covers over my head and block the words out, but my mind began racing.  I’ve always been skeptical of people who hear the voice of God, but I knew this wasn’t a voice to ignore.  Reaching for my phone, I thought, the time difference, my exhaustion, do I call her or text her? I decided it had been some time since I’d used her number, and I wasn’t even sure if it was the same, so I sent a Facebook message, assuming I’d awaken to a response.  And instantly I got a response to my inquiry, “Yes, we’re waiting for the final word to fly to Hyderabad.”

HYDERABAD?!?!?!  “Do you know what orphanage?” My mind races, India has a population of 1.3 Billion people. While it is difficult to confirm the number of actual orphaned children in the country, several organizations estimate upward of 20 Million children.  My phone pings, and I learn that her sweet toddler lives in the same family of orphanages where I am volunteering. Her soon to be daughter is living in a home I can visit tomorrow! In a country with more orphans than the human heart can comprehend, the girl they are adopting is right here!???

When I awaken, I can barely speak, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what had transpired the night before. It almost seems like a dream.  I make arrangements to be on the team sent to her daughter’s home – once these children join Sarah’s Covenant Homes, they are members of a foster family, and are no longer referred to as orphans.  As my team and I walk into the day room her shy little girl eyes us tentatively.  And seated there in the same room is the girl I fell in love with, the hand in the photo above. Her daughter is a member of the same foster family as the girl who won my heart for India. Statistically speaking, this entire situation is implausible!

As I hold my sweet ‘Penny’, and watch beautiful ‘Mia’, I’m overcome by God’s perfect plan. Here I am in India, a country I never intended to visit, but God knew better.  He knew that as Mia’s family was in the process of finalizing adoption plans – weary with the paperwork, nervous that something would go wrong, overwhelmed with the waiting – that I would be at this place in this moment to send them a message of hope.  He arranged it so through my lens they could hear their toddler laugh, they could see that she was healthy and happy, and they could know God would carry them through this season of uncertainty.

This shy girl, with the sweet little giggle, would soon be arriving in our country, and living a mere 12 minutes from my home. This world seems so big and so small all at once.  “Love needs no words, no language, just two hearts meeting in the middle of this great big world. My heart will never be the same…”