I saw this little girl in Mango, Togo, West Africa last week. She lives in abject poverty. If she doesn’t have AIDS, she knows people who
do. The odds that she will grow up with both her parents in good health are low. She probably sleeps on the floor of a mud hut.
While I’ve never necessarily been good at spotting angels, she looked like one to me.
Whether or not she is an angel, where I am concerned, she is a stranger. And, Hebrews 13:2 reads:
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.(Heb 13:2).”
So, it could be that when I prayed silently for her in sweltering heat, somewhere just inside the 10/40 window in Africa, that I was actually praying for an angel? You never know.
But, it’s more likely that she isn’t an angel. She is simply the prettiest little girl living in poverty in West Africa. She couldn’t fathom that people half a world away are looking at her picture, thanking God for her smile, and praying that she would be reached with the Gospel so that one day on the other side, we could celebrate answered prayer and the wonders of missions.
This for sure. If she is not an angel, she is “one of the least of these.” And, if we can help her, then we will do something directly for the Lord Himself (Matthew 25:40).
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The reason that I was in the vicinity of this little girl was that I (and more importantly a surgeon I was with) were visiting a man who had broken his hip after falling in a well. He was laying in his mud hut in great pain and little or no medical help available. You can read more here.
Truly a beautiful little girl…maybe an Angel. Speaking of angels, a nurse comes into my mom’s hospital room in the middle of the night(my sister was there). The nurse was holding Mom’s hand telling her she would be ok, kissing her hand & shedding a tear. We never saw that nurse again. (later we were informed Doctors thought Mom would not live). Maybe an Angel??
This little girl’s face has been etched in my mind since you put it up. I am praying for her and everything that concerns her and I know that God put you in her life – if only for a moment – for a good reason.
Welcome back (a belated welcome back!)
Christina
It is an amazing moment when we realize that all the pictures we’ve seen of people living like this little girl are pictures of real people with real souls, all beautiful and as deserving of God’s love and truth as any of us. It is then that missions and outreach become something much more than that which missionaries do, but very personal, very urgent. They’re what gets me out of bed in the morning. It’s impossible to just walk away and forget. It’s in the book of James that we find these words: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (NIV)
There’s a song called “Give Me Your Eyes” by Brandon Heath
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=82d7347f5a65537a7324
that puts it in perspective. We’d sure be able to see the angels a lot easier if we could truly look at things from God’s perspective!! Thanks for sharing this picture of this beautiful girl needing to hear about the love of Christ. Very motivating…