my heavy heart

O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer! From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge ...

Psalm 61:1-3 (NLT)

My heart is so heavy right now.

This past summer I got the incredible opportunity to travel to Morocco on a 2 1/2 week mission trip. I met and instantly fell in love with the land, the culture, and especially the people. I got to reunite with old friends who serve there as missionaries and spent time with their little family as my team and I worked to bless them and bring love from home. It was a sweet time. Morocco was a time for the Lord to truly meet me, change me, show me new and exciting things he was preparing me for ...Morocco is the place I fell in love with the Lord again and in some aspects, the place that marks the turning point in my life.

Morocco holds more than this to Eddie and Lynn ...these two amazing people have served the Lord without regard since the first time I met them. They gave up their home, family, friends, and comfort in order to move to a land where the sun is hot, the language is foreign, and the people's hearts are like stone. They walked humbly alongside the Lord, knowing He would sustain, He would provide, He would make it work ...and He did! The Lord had been dynamically working in the Padilla's life and despite struggles and trials, the Lord was being glorified in Eddie and Lynn and their beautiful family. While they were there, they also took a step of faith by agreeing to foster two Moroccan babies. These boys instantly became their family and it was incredible to see the way the Lord was continuing to bless and strengthen this family!

Two days ago I received and email from Eddie and Lynn asking for prayer. Without warning or notice, the Moroccan officials told the missionaries of the facility that the Padilla's work through (like an orphanage, but not) that any non-citizen must return to their national country within the next two days. This clearly devastated the Padilla's and the other missionary families ...Morocco had become their home and for these families, they had other vested interests ...Morocco had become a place that gave them the opportunity to give a child a chance to experience love and the comfort of family.

This morning Eddie, Lynn, Maggie, and Ezra boarded a flight bound for the United States of America. And with broken and heavy hearts they left behind their sons and brothers, Samir and baby Mouassin. I don't know all of the details to this situation, I don't know why God does what He does, I don't know how to completely see the positive in such a seemingly unfair and desperate situation, I don't even know what it would feel like to have to leave behind my babies that were entrusted to me not knowing when or if I will ever see them again ... I don't know. Here's what I do know ...God, in all of His sovereignty and grace and goodness and mercy, loves us. He's for us. He's planned out our very days and sees beyond our present circumstances. God also created us, we're His best work yet, and because of this special connection we have with Him, we can take a deep breath and rest in the fact that He would never do anything to destroy us. God cares for those babies, all of the children that were left behind in Morocco as their adopted parents had to go back to their countries, and has already begun to protect them.

Please join me as we pray for the Padilla's. Pray for God's perfect peace to drown their hearts. Pray for God's overwhelming comfort to captivate their worry-filled thoughts. And finally, pray for the Morrocan people ...more than ever, they need the love of the Lord.

...vanessa