Is there hope?

Im sitting here this morning praying for Sara.


Sara is 11 years old. There are a lot of reasons why Sara's life should be without hope.
She lives in a small shack with a dirt floor, a straw mattress and one blanket to share with her mom, and her 14 and 2 year old sisters.
She is sullen and downcast, too timid to make eye contact for long.
She has been forced by her mom to exchange sexual favors for food.
She recently started showing symptoms of hepatitis.
She has no money to go to the hospital, and has no birth certificate to apply for the free insurance.

Yet I believe there is hope for Sara.
Despite all her wounds and pain Sara comes every week to "Children of Jesus" the children's ministry of her local church, seeking relief and a short escape. The EGM-trained children's worker there knows her, loves her, knows her life circumstances and can help.

I dont know in what way God will lead His people in that church to act; I don't know how long Sara will live in the valley of the shadow of death or if she will climb out of her pain, her suffering, her poverty or her illness. But I know that there is a glorious future that is only being glimpsed now. Glimpsed when her church leader holds her hand, when she stays up all night searching for the best solution to Sara's medical needs, and when the women of the community gather to strategize a plan and to pray.


Psalm 6:2-4 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am faint; heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, LORD, how long? Turn, LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.


*Names are always changed out of respect for those mentioned.