Heartbroken and helpless

Devastating news... even if it's not personal... even if it didn't happen directly to you or anyone you know... devastating news can still strike you at your very core, leaving you feeling heartbroken and helpless.

Caleb and I support a young boy from Uganda.  His name is Emmanuel.  Emmanuel lives in a tiny village hundreds of miles away from Kampala, the capital of Uganda.  It's so small that when we 'Googled' his village, it didn't even show up on the map.  Emmanuel is 10.  He loves to draw.  He loves soccer.  He loves Jesus.  My guess is that he is just like any other 10 year old boy... fun, full of energy and can probably do backflips as he and his friends kick around a soccer ball, which Caleb and I witnessed in Zambia.

As Caleb continued researching Uganda, he came across an article that changed our morning from your average "stumble through the apartment while lazily pulling on clothes in an attempt to get ready for work" morning to "sitting on the couch together, watching and reading in horror at the evil that has infiltrated our world" morning.

A mutual friend we met through Trinity is from Zambia and this friend told Caleb stories of the prevalence of witch doctors.  They are very, very real and this particular friend had an experience with a witch doctor that I would never wish on my worst enemy.

The article Caleb found was titled "Witch Doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda."  The article included a brief documentary clip with gruesome descriptions, which I could not watch or listen to all the way through.  

Apparently, this is somewhat of a new trend.  The reason for this horrific act is completely selfish.  To explain briefly and without any gruesome details: people that desire wealth, families that experience infertility, people that want to speak and understand all tongues in a moments time, they are able to obtain all these things through evil spirits.  The evil spirits reside in a shrine that the witch doctors build and if the evil spirits are to grants these desires, they require payment...payment of the worst kind.  Human sacrifice.
The preferred choice is a child.

Children are being abducted... stolen... ripped from their families, all for the sake of peoples' manipulated, twisted, selfish and evil desires.  Emmanuel lives in the midst of all this chaos.  The other part of the chaos is children being abducted, brainwashed and coerced into becoming child soldiers (Invisible Children).

We laid in bed.  The room was dark.  It was quiet.  We held hands and prayed for Emmanuel as the tears fell.  We have no idea if his village is in a hot spot for all this violence or if his village is far enough removed to where it's not affected.  

Tears streamed down my face as I thought of him and wondered if he lived in fear.  Then, faces of all the other children rushed into my mind.  Faces with eyes that seem to peer into your very soul.  They are all simple, innocent children.  They do not deserve to be kidnapped, brainwashed, killed, sacrificed.  It makes me physically sick to my stomach, my heart shatters, a gut wrenching sadness comes over me.

I feel completely and utterly helpless.  There are so many children that need saved.  Not that America is the savior, what I mean is that they deserve to run, play and be normal children without the fear of being taken.  I want to help.  But there's so many that need help.

I am overwhelmed with the evil in this world and the people suffering from it.  I am heartbroken and helpless.

Father God, please put your hand of protection over Emmanuel and all the children that face these dangers.  Place a shield over them and do not let them be touched or harmed by evil doers.  Lord, these people are so far gone it seems nothing can bring them back from the brink of this evil destruction.  You and you alone have the power to change them, break them, soften their hearts Lord and open their eyes to the truth of what they are partaking in.  Lord, you are the one true Protector and Healer, you lift up the helpless and you mend the brokenhearted.

In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

Emmanuel - interesting how his name means "God with us."

Psalm 8:2

"Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger."

Job 21:11

"They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about."

Matthew 19:14

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”