Who Can Save?

I wept as I read the article.  I closed the tab, walked away... but the image lingered.  Did the child cry for his mama?  Did he ask his attacker to stop?  Did he beg?  I recognize how destructive these thoughts are, and yet, they cannot be silenced.  How much did he suffer?

I wish I could do something.

Start a ministry.  Gather petition signatures.  Make a law.  Begin building a refuge for the unwanted and damaged children.....

I have had these thoughts before.  In fact, when I was a child and I came out of my own abusive past, it was a driving force in me, to right wrongs and stand tall for those who were weaker.

When I had my own children I knew my ultimate purpose was their security and well being until they were grown and able to fend for themselves.

But so many children in the world... their parents apparently don't accept that purpose in their lives.

In some cases the children are unwanted.  Government laws and regulations stand in the way of sloughing off the unwanted child easily to those who do want them.  As I noted last week, the UN is trying to outlaw drop off locations for unwanted babies.  Without large sums of money changing hands it is nearly impossible to adopt a child regardless of their need.  People do not seem to realize that the 'slave trade' is alive and well.  It is now called adoption, a horrible perversion and twisting of the 'spirit of adoption' that is shown by the word.  We now have to BUY the child.  Most adoptions cost $15-45 THOUSAND.  Sounds like a lucrative business for someone.  (This does not in any way denigrate those families who HAVE adopted and are considering it.  I do not blame the buyer for the flawed system.)  It should be CLEAR that a family may not have that kind of money but can still provide a loving and safe home for a child, and a sense of belonging that an orphanage or the streets cannot.

In other cases the children are wanted, but for twisted and nefarious reasons.  Their parents do not see them as the gifts they are, but tools to be used for their own purposes and desires.  While the governmental system has the Department of Social Services, DCFS, CPS, etc, to handle these types of child abuse cases, they invariably fail.

These are the type of child abuse cases that are completely unknown to those outside of the home.  They are never reported, never investigated, and only found out after the tragedy has grown too large to conceal.  As in the case of the woman kept in the basement of her home since childhood until she was a grown adult and finally escaped to tell of her story.

We also know that some families get drug through the system for things that do not qualify in any way as child abuse.  The public as a whole condones this "for the children" not realizing that the process is completely destructive to even stable family environments.  They may come to 'investigate' your case and find it unfounded and that no child abuse occurred.  You have been vindicated!  But wait.... in their wake they leave a child who is afraid they will be taken at any moment from their home and parents, parents whose marriage has been severely tested in the fear and struggle to keep the child, family and friends outside of the home now wondering if you are indeed a savage, heartless child abuser, employers who are not sure they want you working for them anymore, landlords who are unsure if they want you living in their rental anymore, and on and on.  Months and even years can be spent with your life in utter disarray as you try to clear your name and keep your family intact.

These poor, defenseless children!

And in my heart.... I want to help.  I want to be the knight in shining armor.  I want to save the day.

And THAT is where I realize that I am in error.

I.

Who can heal a broken heart?

Who can mend a shattered soul?

Who can shine a piercing, accurate, and true light into the murky, horrid darkness?

Who can bring an oak tree out of a tiny dry seed?

Not I.

In my haste, I overlooked the truth that I AM NOT THE SAVIOUR.

That isn't to say I can't do anything to help, or that I do not have a part to play.  But it was a reminder to me.... and maybe to you, that we need to seek HIS will to bring about true healing and peace to any situation.

I pray that YHWH protects the little children and wraps their little hearts in His almighty hands.  And I pray that if someone needs....  me ....

That HE bring us together in His perfect timing.