Esperanza...

Hope, we all need hope...
It's Friday night and this whopper of a week is almost over! Friends, I am happy to report that, not only have I survived it, I soared through it so far... {there's still tomorrow's Provincial Championships, a 10-hour day, for my boy's Robotics Team!}... as I clung to the promise found in these verses:

... but those who hope in the Lord
          will renew their strength;
          they will fly up on wings like eagles;
          they will run and not be tired;
          they will walk and not be weary.

~ Isaiah 40:31, CEB.

And, remembering to surrender to the flow of God's unforced rhythms of grace!

At first, I was resigned to the fact that, because of the craziness that this week entailed, our family would eat take-out food all. week. long. as I tackled my enormous to-do list! I surprised myself by having enough time each and every day to make dinner. Yes, I made a healthy, home-made dinner for each night of this week! Like. A. Boss! ;-)

Yes, when you hope in the Lord... you soar! This woman with a last name that's derived from the Spanish word for hope, esperanza... should know better, right? Yes, I should... but sadly, many times I don't.

This is our reminder... each time we leave and enter our front door!

This morning, I decided to reward myself...

Since I was getting ahead of my enormous to-do list and it's Friday morning, I gave myself the morning off and went on Facebook and Twitter for an extended time!

It didn't take long for me to find out that today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. This infographic brought the stark facts of modern-day slavery to life for me...

And, this is what I posted on Facebook...

"Where do these girls find hope in such horrible circumstances?", I asked myself. And then I heard myself thinking some more, "Who's going to protect them from such atrocities?"

As I sat in front of my computer screen with these questions and these thoughts swirling around in my head, I heard a still, small voice encouraging me to click on my Compassion Advocate link. "Go ahead, click on the link that you just encouraged your 398 Facebook friends to click!"

So I did... and this face is the one that greeted me... and friends, look at her name! Esperanza... I had to blink as I could hardly believe what I was reading! And then I smiled! :-)

Friends, Compassion Canada had recently overhauled their website and when you click on my Advocate link, you are no longer presented with a whole page of children from which you can choose one. ONE is randomly chosen for you! I did not choose Esperanza. God gave us Esperanza!

My heart skipped a beat. I knew right away that God was asking us this day, on Human Trafficking Awareness Day, to add another Compassion child to our family... to protect Esperanza from the atrocities of modern-day slavery... to give her esperanza!

Also, did I already mention that her two given names, Luisa Esperanza, closely resembles hubby's dad's name? Such an awesome God-orchestrated coincidence, don't you think?

I texted my girl right away, I excitedly called my boy into my office and I eagerly showed her to hubby right away when he walked in the front door! And when my girl came home from school later this afternoon, we all gathered around my computer and I clicked "Sponsor Esperanza" as hubby prayed and thanked God for giving us Esperanza!

Friends, this has been a beautiful day!
A day full of hope... of esperanza... for our family, as we continue to learn what it means to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Esperanza... hope... we all need it!

Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

~ Lamentations 3:21-23, NLT.

Compassion is a command, an act of worship, a song of thanks to Him.

Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God!