Unbroken

This morning I had the honor and privilege to speak at my church, St. David's Episcopal in Roswell, GA.  This is what I shared:

There is a best seller and movie about a man during WWII who suffered greatly and emerged unbroken.  At LAMB in Honduras we have our own Unbroken story.

Picture 8 girls, ages 8-18, laughing hysterically…about nothing - raucous laughter, tears, doubled over, gasping for air.  These silly, laughing girls not too long ago were enslaved by human traffickers, often their own family members.  They came to us traumatized, broken.  We wrap them in Christ’s love and ours and they discover they are precious, beautiful, beloved daughters of the Risen Lord.

12 of our young people, in a country with 52% unemployment, in a broken society, spent 2 years working hard at an outstanding vocational school.  Through scholarships, nurturing, and constant reminders that God has a plan for each of them, they graduated with a well-respected certificate and a new found hope.  Their dreams for the future seem within reach to these newly educated, confident young electricians, bakers, stylists, carpenters, and IT technicians.

After years of wrangling in a broken, corrupt political system, we finally got the necessary permits to begin construction of our water project at the Children’s Home. Now, the littlest ones are experiencing, for the first time in their lives, running water!  Although we still have a lot of work to do to fully “liquefy” the Children’s Home, we are finally pumping and using our own, pure water!

Jasmine, a young woman Suzy and I love deeply, gave her testimony to a recent team.  She described her life as a child, beginning with sexual abuse by her father at age 7.  She ran away to escape the continued abuse. Life on the streets included drugs, beatings, prostitution, and more drugs.  Today she is almost 2 years drug free, working for LAMB and volunteering for our Alonzo Movement.  The reason she never gave up or succumbed to life with gangs or worse?  "I always believed God loves me."   A broken child with unbroken faith.

I want to end this blog the way I ended my presentation at church.  This is to my parish family and to all of you who love LAMB: 

Through your prayers, visits, and support, we are able to bring God’s unbroken promise of redemption and love to His precious lambs in Honduras.  Thank you and God bless you.