She was abandoned in the care of her neighbour who looked after the child for ten months.
He was born of sexual abuse and the mother wanted nothing to do with him.
They were left to fend for themselves while the mother abused alcohol.
She was found in a garbage dump, her placenta still attached and covered in ants.
These are some of the realities for children who find their way to the Vida Children’s Home in Guatemala. These are some of the children who need so desperately to know that God sees them and God loves them.
That last little girl – we’ll call her Maria:
Someone at the dump heard her cries.
They called the fire department and the police.
The emergency services took her to the hospital.
For a month, she stayed in hospital, while authorities searched for her family, but no one knew who she was or where she came from.
That’s how Maria came to the Vida Children’s Home.
Will you pray for these little ones as they come into our care, with so much pain and so much trauma? Will you pray for our nannies, as they become the hands and feet of Jesus to children like Maria?
Since then, the Vida Children’s Home has been Maria’s space of hope, her protective environment, the place where she is learning how much God loves her.
The caregivers have become the family who has cheered her on as she learned to crawl, walk, run. They have loved her as Jesus loves. They’ve sung simple songs with her and told her Bible stories and prayed with and for her. They have laughed at her antics, cried over her pain, and given her so so many hugs.
We’re excited to share that just recently, Maria was adopted. She now has a family to love her and a home to provide for her needs. But while she had neither, you made it possible for the Vida Children’s Home to care for her and sow seeds of love into her life. Thank you.
Please continue to pray for Maria, that she will always remember how much God loves her. And pray for the many children yet to come, each with their own stories and pain and heartache, that God will touch their hearts and lives, and will change their futures.