A Journey Of Miracles and Faith, Half Way Across The World. UNITE Linky

Of all the places in the world, I am not sure why this orphanage in China stuck out to me, glowing in front of me, on my flat screen.

Maybe it was because doors closed to our trip to south China and as a result we consecrated ourselves to seek His plan, not ours.

And could it be, detours are meant to be God-journeys, doors close so His window of grace and opportunity can pour through the Son of Mercy?

Children laughed unfiltered, and played as if royalty, on my laptop, as I sit overlooking our acreage, in America.

Smiling, giggling. The kids ran as if in celebration of what had happened, or what was about to begin.

And like a moth to a flame, I was over-taken.

I researched other facilities where parent-less children gathered, but none gripped me quite like this one.

Most other children in orphanages seemed grim. (As expected)

But these children? The light of His goodness simply radiated from them, in a way I had never seen in children in other facilities.

Yet, I had no idea about the story. If the orphanage was Christian, or Mormon, Buddhist, or Hindu.

I didn’t gather much from my five senses, except that His light seemed to shine from them, straight through my laptop in a way I can’t explain….

It was there, a silent pulling seemed to be calling me, whispering gently, “come”.

Yet, I had no idea how far this orphanage was from our destination.

After all, China is big.

But what I did know was that no train, bus, taxi, or bullet, could keep me from seeing their faces, inperson….The ones who radiated His goodness on my computer screen, in America.

I shot out an e-mail to an unknown face. Then, felt a whisper telling me to private message this facility on Facebook.

We corresponded. I shared my heart for adoption, and miraculously they invited us to come visit them, in China.

I mapped their location, and it couldn’t be? Their orphanage was only five minutes away from the little girl we had prayed for, and we had already planned to go visit. What are the chances?

We gather supplies. And He whispers again as I am tempted to simply buy all that’s needed. “Ask other people on Facebook to help you collect supplies. Giving is a gift.”

I obey. Put the list of needed supplies for the orphanage, on Facebook. Then, I see God work miracles though many, including a fitness trainer, and a twenty-something girl who just so happened to buying the exact same product at the same exact time I posted on Facebook.

One lady I collected from, I did not know well. Yet, when we met together, I learned, she had also gone to China. She said,

“If you hadn’t asked us to help, we wouldn’t know how to be praying for you when you go.”

God teaches…

People are a blessing. And the gift we get from reaching is electric and contagious, rippling and  beneficial to all willing to participate.

Before we leave, I stare at a stack of books I had been waiting to read. Pick one up, but feel the God-prompt to read another one He seems to be highlighting.

He prompts me again. Because the first time I don’t listen.

Finally, I pick it up and start reading about a burned baby abandoned in an open field, in China. 

His story is captivating and miraculous. The ones fighting and advocating for him, a testimony of God’s goodness.

But then, I see the name. The name of the founder of the orphanage. The one I had been communicating with on Facebook, from the exact place I had been connecting with and was about to go visit, in China.

I stop. In disbelief. 

I tell my friend of the coincidence, and she shares how when she went to teach in China a few years ago, the father of that burned baby she also had “coincidentally” met. He told her the story.

She said she even met little Levi, the burned boy in the powerful story of love and faith in, “Saving Levi”.

I am absolutely stunned at the small details of His ways and the bigness of our God.

Finally, supplies are packed, e-mails have been sent. My husband, who always said, “I am never going to China”, bought our tickets within three days and went.

After a plane, three taxi’s, and a bullet train, we stand at the place where I first saw those kids on my computer screen so many weeks ago. The laughing faces are now flesh and bone, kids we swing, and push, and see the joy in…with our very own eyes.

We meet the man in the book, hear the humble words from this faith giant who recognizes God’s the one that saves orphans…

And we are moved by God’s ability to make a dream, a reality.

We hear testimonies about the orphanage, the children. And finally, He begins to tell the story of little Levi…

A little boy who not only survived the impossible, but thrives because of his miraculous rescue.

I look at the men with us. Their eyes are full with tears. Streams flood down the faces of so many of us listening.

And we know the way we walked in will be radically different than who we were when we came. 

For we have touched down in this place where grace and faith mix, and with our own eyes seen how wide, and high, and deep His love is.

And how beauty isn’t found in the big, “yes”, but in heading the voice of the one who makes orphans laugh…

All the way across the world, in China.

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