some encouragement

Today, I got an email from World Relief, an organization that Jason and I have been supporting for several years. Over these years, we have gotten to know some of the God-loving people in the organization, and it's been an encouragement to us to hear about their work and their hearts for God. The email I got today was about a "Ten for Congo" journey, where ten women will be heading to the Democratic Republic of Congo to learn about World Relief's work there and to advocate for the women of Congo in particular. Lynn Hybel documents the journey here. One of the most devastating things about the Congo is the prevalence of rape. Something like 9 out of 10 women have been raped in the country. Hearing the statistic is a bit mind -and heart- numbing. Over the last two months I've been working with a little four year old girl from El Salvador. She has been abandoned by her parents, and she has been raped and molested. It's been difficult to document her story (for the courts) with her aunt, who has taken her in here. The hardest part is hearing the little girl talk about things that she should know nothing about. There is something quite jarring about hearing an innocent four year old's voice talk about the details of a rape. The juxtaposition of the two is quite shocking, a heavy reminder that all is not right in the world. For some reason, getting the email from World Relief - reading about the women and their hearts for the Congolese, hearing their thoughts and concerns, knowing that they too are experiencing a juxtaposition of the general "goodness" in their lives (safe kids, beautiful flowers, a loving home) with the general "wrongness" experienced by the women in the Congo - brings some encouragement to me. That there are others who feel the tension of celebrating the joys in the world while being up close to so much pain and injustice. There is encouragement in the reminder that there is a God who sees it all. There is a quiet hope in knowing that he can heal and mend, restore and reclaim the broken.