I worked for eleven years in international adoption. Even as I type those words, it is hard for me to imagine. For me, the years were some of the worst years of my life and some of the best. It all came with a price.
There was one particular little girl in an orphanage in Guatemala City. Her name was Lissette. I remember her smile and the way she chewed on the corner of her lip. Her hair sat mid-way down her back and curled all over her head like a tightly wound coil. Her birth mother had abandoned her around the age of 5, and now, she lived in an orphanage. At the age of 17, her life consisted of working to care for the children who lived there.
I wanted to talk with her. To know what her dreams were. To even know what her past had been like. The problem with communication was, Lissette didn’t speak Spanish or English, but a dialect.
One day, I found myself in a predicament. I’d been separated from my group. I had no translator, and Lissette and I needed to find a way to the orphanage and I didn’t know the address. Lissette blended well into the Market Place in downtown Guatemala City. I, however, with blonde hair and blue eyes looked entirely “out-of-place.” Together, we would have to navigate our way back from an area even taxi cabs would not venture into. All my identification, money, cell phone, everything, was in my backpack – and not with me.
Lissette looked at me and with a rapid flow to her words began to tell me what we needed to do. Her arms were moving up and down, her fingers extending and closing, her shoulders slightly rising, and her eyebrows sliding up and down; but, I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. She spoke slower. But I shook my head. I said, “I’m so sorry Lissette. I don’t know where we are or how to get back to where we were or even what you’re talking about.” Her puzzled expression told all. She had no clue what I was saying either.
Sometimes in our lives we feel the same way Lissette and I felt that day. We have no solution on our own; we can’t even see a way out; and we do not hear a clear communication from God. In fact, there are times, we don’t even know if He is listening at all.
I saw a spot under a single tree – a tree of all things in the middle of the crowd and commotion – in the middle of the chaos and filth. Scriptures came to mind, “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you” Psalm 33:20-22.
Psalm 91:1-3, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.”
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1
I took Lissette’s hand and we went and sat under the tree. The worst we could do is venture out on our own. We needed to wait.
About an hour later, one of our staff members appeared, anxious and worried. There’s nothing like a familiar face in times of need.
Sometimes, we have to put all our solutions aside and wait on God’s. I’ve learned over the years that in such situations, He will always provide while we wait, we just have to look for the provision. It came for me that day in the form of a tree.
Whatever is happening in your life, know that God is there. He has the answer. Faithfully wait on His timing.
