Although I am sure the One who designed this complex universe is well aware that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points, I delight in the ways He chooses to ignore the fact. He constantly amazes me at unexpected times and in unusual ways with reminders of how He knows and cares about the secrets of my heart.
For several years I led mission trips to various countries in Latin America. On these trips I encountered many children who captured my heart, but only once did I seriously consider adopting one.
Her name was Veronica. She was ten years old. She lived at the Home of Life in Costa Rica. For the week we were there, she followed me everywhere. We had brought painters caps as a craft for the kids to decorate. Veronica painted a heart, two tidy flowers, and her name on her cap. Then she gave it to me. Veronica broke my heart. But before my husband and I could decide what to do, someone else adopted her and took her to Spain.
I put her hat on a bookcase. For five years, I have prayed for a little girl in a land far across the ocean. I never expected to know how she was. Last I had heard, she hadn't been in contact with my friends who ran the orphanage in Costa Rica.
My friends are now in the States on sabbatical. They visited us this past weekend. Their daughter, Maria, slept in the little bedroom upstairs, the bedroom with the bookshelf, the one where Veronica's cap was displayed. Not knowing my ties to Veronica, Maria came downstairs and told us that after a silence of several years, Veronica had recently sent her an email.
She thanked Maria's family for showing her God's love during her time at the orphanage. She said she was well. Her adjustment to her new home had been hard, but now she was settled. And most of all, in spite of all that had happened in her brief fifteen years, she loved God.
An email from Spain to Costa Rica, a painted cap on a bookshelf, friends on sabbatical, God blesses me with an answer to a prayer only He knew was still in my heart. How wonderful are your ways, O Lord.
Oh, you've now idea how I loved this. For me, it was a little boy named Joshua who lived at the group home where I worked. I was young and not in any position to adopt him (and Rob and I were still planning our wedding) but we keep a photo ornament of him on our Christmas tree every year and pray for him. He went to live somewhere south with his father after his mother died in a car accident. I love this story!
ReplyDeleteMarcia,
ReplyDeleteI remember Veronica! And I remember how you had wanted to adopt her! I am so thankful God saw fit to answer your prayer. I am so glad she is doing well!
Betsy