A Girl Named Grace

In Romans 3:34 we are told that God gives grace to the afflicted, in Ephesians 2:8, "By grace you have been saved. . . ". In 2 Corinthians 12 our Lord tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." It is with this backdrop that I proceed to tell you about our little Grace.

As you know, I am here in Liberia to minister to the orphans of this great continent. The ravages of sickness and war have left too, too many little ones with no hope, no future, and no one to care for them. But there is hope and there is a future and God is here to care and to give grace. He sends His people to do this work and He uses His people, folks like you, to send us.
Thank you for that wonderful gift - to me, to the children of Liberia, and to your Father.

I was thankful for the privilege lasts week of experiencing first hand a vision of why we are here. I traveled to another area of Liberia to pick up 4 1/2 year old little girl. We're going to call her Grace. We traveled for three hours over very bumpy dirt roads. The distance would have not been so far but the slowness of driving through potholes and washed out areas in the road made travel very difficult. Along the way I saw jungle, people doing laundry, others marketing their produce, children playing in water holes, construction workers building a new bridge, and young people chopping back the growth along the road. The jungle rules here if you let it. I saw churches and schools both new and old.

Finally we arrived in a larger community and proceeded to the place we were to meet little Grace. She was waiting for us and ran out to meet us when we arrived. She was beautiful!
I was surprise at the emotions this experience evoked within. Here was this little one we had come to rescue from life without adaquate medical care, limited food and poor or no education, what a joy to be a part of this opportunity in her life. But here was a little girl who at four had already faced the tragedies of losing her mother and now her father, how sad. And then there was this home that she had been taken into, where she was loved by extended family members, a family with many small children of their own for which they were caring. I felt their loss, as well, as they said goodbye to this precious little one. As they lovingly let her go, we said our goodbyes and climbed into the vehicle. I turned around and saw a small girl with a new name and a new life that she knew nothing about, a little girl holding a baby doll, probably for the first time, a little girl who had never had a book read to her. What was she feeling? What was she thinking? What courage! What hope! As I now watch her take each step in her new life, I know -Grace is the name for her.
May God's grace be with you,
Julie