Tiffany was Done With It. It had been one of those weeks. She had worked late every night. She was tired. She was frustrated. She was ready to go home. Instead, she was being asked to stay late, again – two kids were coming for an emergency placement – something ACH had never done before.* They would need clothing for that night and the next day at a minimum. Tiffany sighed. Fine. But her heart wasn’t in it.

The sight of the kids took her breath away and began to work on her heart. A brother and sister. “They look like something out of Oliver Twist,” Tiffany thought. They were disheveled and dirty with tangled hair and haunted eyes, not a single piece of clothing the right size, the right season or anywhere near presentable.

The boy stood silently, wide-eyed and grave, not saying a word and barely moving. The girl, hesistantly and quietly murmured answers to questions about what they needed. No, they hadn’t brought underwear – they didn’t own any. No, they didn’t have pjs. No, she didn’t know their shoe sizes… or pant sizes… or shirt sizes. “You’ll probably go swimming tomorrow,” Tiffany told them. “Why don’t you pick out a swimsuit?” The girl responded she hadn’t had a swimsuit since she was 6. She was 13. While they rifled through swim gear, Tiffany gathered toiletries and hygiene items, making sure they had everything they needed and wouldn’t have to ask for anything.

Tiffany noticed the boy staring at a collection of squishy stuffed animals. He nudged his sister. When she caught sight offthe toys, her face lit up for the first time. “You need something to sleep with!” Tiffany told her. “Pick one out!”

“I’ll bring it back tomorrow,” the girl replied solemnly. “Everything you get from me is yours for good,” Tiffany explained.

Still, the girl insisted, “I won’t get anything on it. I’ll bring it back tomorrow.”

As the two children walked out to sleep in strange beds that night, Tiffany knew God had been present that evening andf it touched her deeply – restored her passion for her work. So much happened that night that she knew was God’s timing – not least of all that there were staff in place at the right time to selflessly use the gifts they had been given to meet two kids in their place of pain on one of the hardest days of their lives. “I’d lost my purpose,” She later said. “Suddenly, I realized how selfish I had been. The whole thing made me so grateful that I get to be here – that THIS is what we do.”

We, all of us, are vulnerable to discouragement and weariness. The enemy wants us to be self-focussed – he knows defeat awaits us at the end of that journey. He wants us to lose sight of our personal mission and our organizational mission. But God – God wants us to know His generous provision so we never stop the outpour of love to children who desperately need it.

We serve from a place of His abundant love. Kids come to us in a place of deep need. Our mission is that through the restoration process, each child begins to understand they too can live to be a blessing. ACH will adapt to changes and overcome challenges just as we have weathered storms over the past century, and we will con dently follow the lead of our mighty, provisional God.

 

*In an emergency placement, kids are coming almost directly from being removed from their familial home They have just been through a highly traumatic experience and very little is known about their emotional or behavioral needs.