Two days after receiving the three girls from the early morning call, an article appeared in the paper about an attempted drowning. The children’s father had put the girls in a canoe sometime in the night, telling them that they were going swimming. He rowed out into the lake and started shoving each one into the water. The girls screamed, and a nearby fisherman heard their cries coming to their rescue. Able to get the girls away from the father, he went to the shore with them and contacted the police. They found that the father had seriously injured their mother with a machete, in their house, when she tried to protect the children. I felt sick to my stomach when I heard the story, and the “mother bear” in me took over. We would protect these little ones and love the hurt right out of them. It consoled me that the father landed in jail. The article said that their mother had received medical attention in the hospital but did not indicate her current status.

Later that day, Yonith, the Shadow of His Wings’ social worker, said that the court called and that the mother wanted the children back. We needed to take them to the Villa Nueva court. “We can’t do that,” I told her. “Look at the change in them? They are laughing and look so peaceful being here. Has there been an investigation to find out what happened?”

Yonith replied, “No, they haven’t done that.”

“Call the La Procuraduría General de la Nación (the PGN include human rights people) and talk to them about this. It isn’t right that these children have to go back, and we don’t know if they will be safe or in more danger.”

Yonith made the call and then contacted the court to see if we could wait until the following Monday to bring the children into the children’s court. The court official agreed, and this gave more time for the PGN to investigate. Not thrilled that the children only had a few more days to be in a peaceful environment, I realized we had to work with the court system. We did not have a voice in the matter. We knew we just needed to make the best of the time we had to express love and counsel with the children.

Lord, you are their protector, and I pray that every decision made on their behalf will be the plan you have for them. My heart ached as I fasted and prayed for these three little ones. God wasn’t going to allow them to be put back into danger. He brought them to us, and He would protect them wherever they went. I could accept this and trusted in the Lord. They had a destiny with God, and I declared that in Jesus’ name they would walk out that destiny. During prayer and with my eyes closed, I could see a huge form with arms around all three girls. I knew it was the Lord confirming that He had them in His arms. Maybe they wouldn’t be staying in Shadow of His Wings, but they would be safe with the Lord. I finally felt peace for the first time since I received the middle-of-the-night phone call.

The children were taken back to their mother the following Monday. The PGN investigation indicated that the mother would find a safe place for all of them while the father remained in jail. The mother and girls went to live with a family member in a place not known by the father. When released, he wouldn’t be able to find them. The social worker, who had taken the children to the court, saw that the biological family dearly loved the children, and the mother bore the cuts on her body to prove that she fought for them.

This time of trusting the Lord for these children, even when it didn’t turn out the way I thought it should, made me stronger in the area of trust. The Bible says that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are good. I know in my heart that the Lord continues to protect and guide those girls wherever they are living.