Pushing Back Darkness

This post is written by Deborah Lange who is living in the Wellington Orphanage as an in-house tutor for the children.

1 John 4:11-12 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

In the month noted for “love” let us all not forget the greatest love and Lover of all. Only because of Him are we able to love others always and endlessly. Living in Africa this year I have learned so much about true love. God has given me opportunities to love His children and His people every day and every moment in new ways.He has enabled me to love others more than I thought possible. To love when it hurts; to love when I feel I have no energy; to love those who reject love; love the old, the ugly, the disabled; to love without tiring! Because He loves me without tiring!

I praise God for Romans 5:5 “God has poured His love into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven” I rejoice that He pours His love into me daily so that I can pour that same love into others. God gave me the chance to love many for Him this month. To love the old man who needed a hug and smiled when I greeted him in his tribal tongue; to love the Muslim teenage girl who had a very swollen hand by praying for her and finding medical treatment; to give the love of a Mother to the girls at the Orphanage who get sick or scared during the night and come knock on my door needing comfort; to pray and encourage the single Mom whose home was burglarized last week.

God blesses me with the chance to love them in the name of Jesus. If I could share anything about the surroundings here at Wellington Orphanage it would be to tell you about the love that is shown day in and day out. During the classes I teach every day, one of the subjects the children do is scripture memorization. This month they are memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 ‘the chapter on love’ these Children love like I’ve never experienced. They are filled with God’s love and give love in so many ways. In 1 Cor. 13 it says how our faith, prophesying, prayers and giving are all useless without love. Many people that come to this Orphanage are inspired and amazed at the Pastors and children’s faith, giving, and answered prayers. As I’ve studied this chapter and spent more time here I’m convinced they have all those spiritual things in abundance because above all else they LOVE others tirelessly!

Oh that I would learn to love and serve always, not thinking of my own comfort but caring most about the comfort of Christ and those around me. 1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! I praise God daily for the love of so many of you are praying and giving for Sierra Leone, for the Orphans, and for my teaching with the Education Project. Through your giving and praying you make it possible for me to be here; loving in the mighty name of Jesus. Without HIS love, all else is meaningless. Please take time now to rejoice and rest in His mighty love that He pours into our hearts!
By HIS Love,
Deborah

This is a poem written by Michael Smith and Oxygen for Organizations

I just returned from Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa. I thought you might enjoy how I tried to make sense of what I experienced.

When you See, When you Smell, When you Feel
Ten o’clock at night.

I can see expansive galaxies in the night sky that remind me of how miniscule is

our presence in God’s creation.

My senses are cocooned in 80 percent humidity producing a constant stream of condensed sweat that

rivers down my back in the 85-degree night,

a teasing breath of breeze promises little relief,

the not quite deafening sound of a diesel generator drowns the yapping and
occasional howling of stray and unwanted dogs.

I could find some comfort if only the breeze would be just a bit more willful.

Then the smell of a constant stream of fermenting human waste that flows in

open gutters would move up the bare mountain

on which sits the home of children left orphaned by a vicious war.

A conflict of vague substance but sharp blades and amoral bullets

The war is over,

but it isn’t.

Left are

children without fathers to hold them,

babies without mothers to give them their breasts,

mothers without legs to carry babies wrapped on their backs to

introduce them to life,

fathers without their hands to build futures for their families.

Maybe more than that, left are a people who live with little,

have little and have for too long known even less.

I am at an orphanage in Sierra Leone being a drop-in father for adolescent girls and young boys who

want to be treasured but don’t have the words to ask.

I am part of a group of Americans who are bringing some desperately needed emotional and financial

resources out of our overflow to a people who have no
flush toilets,

cold air,

flowing water when you turn on the tap

because there is no tap,

refrigeration

because there is no electricity,

few (very few) paved roads,

doors and windows;

not to keep the weather out, but the poisonous snakes that

want to share their beds,

an emergency room if the unexpected and possibly fatal happens,

not even a doctor to prescribe some simple antibiotics to resolve

a little boy’s kidney infection (really).

It’s not an environment friendly to humans.

But Freetown,

the capital of this small and ignored country,

is home to 2 million of them.

Jesus said that what you do to the least of these, you do to him.

This then, is where Jesus lives and there are a lot of them.

Their eyes are open invitations to know their souls.

Their arms welcome you without expectation.

Their smiles are the artwork of their hearts.

To the uninitiated it is hell.

But.

Look, you will find pockets of heaven.

Lighted candles drive out darkness.

Each evening the expected darkness returns.

But the survivors are relentless;

more candles are lit.

Maybe soon shadows will be rare.

The sparks that light the torches

only need small encouragement to attract more to do the same.

It is easy for us to participate.

We have to suffer very little to light a lot of candles.

Children need to be held.

Minds need educating.

A little cash ($50; it’s a loan, it gets paid back to use again) starts a business that feeds a family,

not for a day,

but for a lifetime.

It’s true, I have seen it.

When you see,

when you smell,

when you think,

when you feel.

You won’t not want to help.

Write me and I will tell you how to give just a little from the overflow of your cup that will make you the hands and heart of the great God of creation who lives in Sierra Leone.

michael smith, 28 ne 28th st , oklahoma city, ok 73105.  michael@intendtolead.com