Little Ones to Him Belong

I wrote the first blog of my lifetime for Show Hope's Blog while we were at Maria's Big House of China. I wanted to repost it to my own blog because what I discovered that day truly changed my viewpoints forever:

God works in amazing, extraordinary, and unexpected ways. I never expected that God would use a mission trip spent playing with precious children to change my life. God has broken me, but built me up more beautiful. Our team has received the challenge to reach out to kids at MBHOH who aren’t always played with, children that don't necessarily respond normally or children who require more attention because of a disability. With that in mind I walked into the Peter Rabbit room today. Without even thinking about it I gravitated towards the kids who were ‘easy’ to love–those who responded quickly to my tickles and who were fun to play with. Suddenly I realized what I was doing. I was avoiding the kids who needed love the most because it was too difficult. I selfishly put my needs and my comforts above these precious children.

I decided to go to the mat where two children with very obvious special needs lay. One little boy responded when I touched him; he used all the energy he had to smile. The other little girl, however, did not respond to anything I did. Things that would make other children laugh, smile, and giggle caused no sort of response from her. It was so discouraging to not get the response I so desperately desired. I became frustrated with myself and with the situation. I wanted to feel the warm feelings of hearing her laugh or seeing her smile, but there was nothing. As I sat staring into her big blinking eyes and looked at her small frail body, my heart broke thinking of the possibility that her mind and her body are not aligned, that she was furiously fighting her body. I prayed that God would give me a sign that she would be okay, that she was content inside. I sat there stroking her just to make sure she knew that I was there. My heart continued to break as I looked into her eyes.

At that moment I did the only thing left that I could do. I began to sing. Or rather I tried to sing. I’ve always been embarrassed to sing out loud, but I thought that this could be one thing I could do for this little girl; I could try to comfort her with my singing. I began singing my favorite childhood song- ‘Jesus Loves Me.’ Softly I sang: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak, but he is strong.’ Unexpected tears began streaming down my face as I sang that line… Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. The little girl I sat trying to comfort has a body that was weak, but she has a God who is so strong and loves her so much. That was the sign that I needed. This little girl’s future is in God’s hands and He is strong. He will never let her go. He has His hands wrapped around her. In His arms, she will be comforted.

God's precious little girl named Daisy.