The ACTION team to Peru caught a glimpse of the Father’s heart for each of His children during the afternoon that they spent at a hospital in Lima. Although they were only able to be there for less than an hour, their time at the hospital left a deep impression on their hearts.

As they walked through the rooms on the children’s floor, the team had the opportunity to pray for some of the kids in the hospital. But they were most impacted by the time that they spent in a room with three little babies. All three of the infants had been abandoned by their parents because of their medical problems, and there was little hope that they would live for much longer. It was as she held one of these babies that Lisa felt God’s love for His children, and whispered the Father’s message of love to this baby girl.

Later that evening, the team took time to press into Jesus and listen for the things that He wanted them to take away from their experience at the hospital. As they prayed, Lisa was reminded of God’s promise to never leave or abandon any of His children as God brought the words “Father of the fatherless” to her mind.

God also gave Lisa a powerful image during the team’s prayer time. She described this picture, writing, “I saw Jesus standing by the bed of one of the little girls that I held, and there was a light where He was standing. The image grew and I saw Him standing beside all three of the cribs, then beside each bed in the hospital, and then next to every person in Peru, and finally I saw Jesus beside each and every person in this entire world. Wherever Jesus was, there was light! It was a powerful reminder of how big God is – it is unfathomable, it is incomprehensible, it is impossible to wrap my mind around – but it is beautiful. As I kept listening, I saw the nurses in the hospital join Jesus beside some of the beds, and wherever they were the light grew a bit brighter. For me, it was a call to us as followers of Christ to join Him beside the beds of His children – not because He needs us to be there in order to bring light, but because He has invited us to embody His light, and to make it shine a bit brighter.”

Praise God for opening the eyes and hearts of this ACTION team to experience His love for these vulnerable and abandoned children. Pray for the active engagement of the body of Christ in shining God’s light and passing on His message of love and salvation.

“Sing to God, sing praise to His name, extol Him who rides on the clouds — His name is the Lord — and rejoice before Him. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” - Psalm 68:4-5