compassion

{via pinterest}

church made me ache this morning. 

not one of those cringing aches in which convictions floods my soul and begs me to bring about change. no, this was different.

as Wess Stafford, the President of Compassion International, spoke of the need in the hearts of children around the world, i began to feel it then.

the ache of longing, of sorrow and grief and the strangest feeling of homesickness.

i ached for Peru. 

and i ached for her children.

i landed in Lima, Peru for the first time in 2006 on a two-week mission experience with then-Brio magazine. the minute i arrived, my soul knit with that place. 

it was the longest and shortest two weeks of my life. i could not be stopped, and so i returned to that same area again the next year...and then the next year after that. 

i still dream about that place. i step outside some mornings, and find myself stopping to sniff the air...because i smell Peru on the wind. it bears that distinct aroma of burning plastic and spices and tears and love and suffering and Jesus Christ. 

i dream about it sometimes -- almost as though i am there. when i wake up, i find myself weeping because i am not there, and it was only a dream. 

because those people are beautiful. that place is so full of emptiness and need. they are so hungry, starving for the Saviour. 

{photo by DramaticElegance, 2008}
me with Trian in Peru

the need is immense. these souls have nothing but the currency of Love, and they are more than willing to give you their very last dime. 

and i miss them. 

Peru's children are not the only ones that cry to be seen, to be heard in this broken, twisted shuffle. 

there are thousands of these dirt-streaked angels in a thousand countries, all with upturned faces and whispered words in a hundred languages. 

love me

please?

and the voice of their only Advocate whispering in reply

feed My lambs.

it costs less to sponsor a child with Compassion than it does to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks every day. 

what life could you change with a handful of dollars?  

sponsor a child with Compassion.

and feed His lambs.