my new little friend

I've just started sponsoring a girl from the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). She's absolutely beautiful. Her name is Divine Kimbembi and she's almost ten years old. She lives with her mom, one brother, and two sisters. I know nothing of the details of her life or her community. I don't know where her dad is. I don't know what her world is like. But I'm excited...excited to write letters...excited to pray...excited to build a new friendship with this little life so far away and so "different" (maybe) but also so alike. we already have a lot in common--dreams and desires, hopes and fears, longing, dignity, love and worth...

Isn't she beautiful? Pray for her with me, if you think of it. 1.1 of the Congolese have HIV/AIDS. It's a country torn by war, rape, and ravaged by disease and poverty. But its a country full of dignified human beings just like any other--looking for hope, love, wholeness and meaning in a world that feels broken and often so "out of control." We over here might know nothing of her realities "over there," but we learn and we learn how to pray. Because we know who keeps the world together ["When the earth quakes and it's people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps it's foundations firm." Psalm 75:3]. Compassion is learned because it's a part of being in his image and growing into his image--an image that sometimes feels too big for us; too hard to fit into. But he teaches us to fit into his image. He melts and molds, pulls and stretches. We are, at once, already made in his image but we are, too, being conformed more and more. This is a remarkable mystery...the hard delight of living to follow him.