It Hurts!

This is something you say when you are physically hurt, when someone breaks your heart, or when you want something so bad and haven't received it. I am sure you can think of many things that have caused you to hurt...recently the thing that comes to my mind when I think of pain is the world. IT HURTS to see how far from the LORD it has gotten!

Just this past week I was reading up on how things were going at Every Orphan's Hope in Zambia. I interned with them last fall and always like to read what the new interns are learning and hear what the LORD is doing! When reading the blog of their current intern my body physically ached for what sin has done to our world! This is a quote from the blog (disclaimer: this quote is very disturbing if you are easily squeamish or offended please skip this quote):

She had married young. And apparently shortly after her 3rd child was born, her husband died. Looking at how gaunt the young woman was, I wondered if she had AIDS, and if her husband had died from the disease. There are some things we will never know. However, after her husband died, the woman was doing OK. She was still capable of raising her children, and in a village where there is so much disease... single parenting is almost the norm. However, one night she was walking home alone in the dark. As I have mentioned in previous posts, this is not a safe practice in Zambia. She was spotted by the Police force and thus, as I understand it, picked up by them for her own protection. Why they didn't bring her directly home, I will never know... but she was instead brought to spend the night in a holding cell... to keep her safe.

However, apparently she was not alone in that holding cell. There was a pornographer also being held that night. With camera in tow. Being a pretty young woman, she was abused... and made to have intercourse with a dog.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME! This man...CHRIST died for THIS man?! This was the first thought that crossed my mind in reading this. I can fathom Christ dying for those who repent of their sins, but "Christ died for sins once for all" - 1 Peter 3:18 How did Jesus not vomit on the cross is beyond me. This is just one of the people that Christ died for that did NOT deserve it...I am right along side this man; his sin no worse than my own.

What am I doing to bring Christ to a dying world? I pray that I will be HIS light to the area I am in now, that He would use me, and that I would live radically!

I physically ache for this world...IT HURTS!

If you want to read more from Annika check out her blog site: http://www.annikakrygsman.blogspot.com