WE ARE IMPORTANT

Working with children who have difficult pasts can get complicated. It’s easy to label the children as challenging, untruthful, violent, disrespectful, destructive – along with a mirage of other negative behaviors on the very tough days. While these observations may be true at times, we need to ask if we let these behaviors define the child.

This past week, we had the privilege of partnering with a group of five women from Atlanta, Georgia. They came to encourage, train, and walk alongside our staff. They prepared to guide us through devotional times, emphasizing the importance of daily time with God in order to be filled before pouring out. They empathized with the immense effort required to work with children who have experienced abandonment, neglect, and abuse. They prepared activities that helped us reflect and retain important truths of who God says we are. And additionally, they provided us with valuable tools to aid our work.

One of the key concepts taught was that God created us, made us unique and gave us value. He is the One says who we are.

One of the activities we participated in involved a picture of a child. This picture was placed inside a plastic cover sheet, and we were asked write behaviors that can frustrate us in the children we serve. Then, we were asked to lift the picture of the child out of the cover sheet and place stickers with these messages around the child: “God loves me.” “God created me.” “God sees me.” “God hears me.” “I am important to God.”  This exercise highlighted that God doesn’t name us based on our behaviors; instead, He sees us through His eyes of  love. True names are derived from truth, not from behavior.

This reminder serves as a powerful affirmation as we navigate each day, reminding us that God created each of us with intentionality and value – and nothing can remove that value from us. Each child we serve was created intentionally by our Heavenly Father. And each of us called to serve are important in the lives of the children we serve.

We are grateful to the GlobalX Team for their amazing support and dedication to our children and staff. Thank you for sharing a whole week with us!