Author Archives: Carroll

Deserved Justice

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The police came late one evening with a strange acting girl. I immediately knew our experiences were about to expand. About twelve-years-old, her eyes darted around the room like a wild animal. She quivered and whimpered in fear as I held her. After many minutes of softly spoken words, I could feel her calming down. She stopped shaking and making noises, but she wouldn’t let go of me. Oh Lord, help this child. I don’t know what she needs, but it is more than the normal love and assurance.

Trying to keep the atmosphere normal for the other children, I introduced her to the girls. They smiled with greetings, but she responded with a lowered head, bottom lip pushed out, and eyes to the floor. With my pushing and the house mother’s gentle pulling, she went upstairs for the routine clean-up. At that time, there would be notes taken of any scars, wounds or physical signs that would alert us to her past situation. We needed documentation for the court of what possible abuses she might have endured before coming to Shadow of His Wings Orphanage.

After the girl had left, the children gathered around me looking for information. “What’s her name?” Lorena asked. “Why is she acting weird?” questioned Josselin.

My head buzzed with similar questions. Who was this child and what was her story? How could we minister to what all she needed? What if we can’t take care of her? “Kids, we don’t have any information about her and no name. Maybe she will tell us her name when she feels safe with us. Meanwhile, show her love and help her to know we are here to help her, not hurt her. She shouldn’t be alone, so I’m asking for each of you to take turns staying with her.”

The next day we found that the police record said that this child suffered as a victim of sexual abuse. They found her alone in a hotel room in women’s black lingerie. Without identification or contact information and her inability to communicate, there were no clues to who she was or where she lived. The girls asked her about her name, but the response of sounds didn’t make sense. However, listening to the sounds that she made, the girls decided she should be called Ana* and Ana she became.

We thought mentally handicapped described her state of mind because she would say a few words that made sense while chattering unintelligently. She would imitate and repeat one or two words that the girls said. When I looked at her, I couldn’t see the features of someone mentally handicapped. I knew this child had suffered greatly, and we needed to find out how we could to help her mentally, physically, and spiritually. The Lord said He would give us wisdom when we needed it, and I prayed for the flood gates of wisdom to open. This life had been tossed in the trash, and Ana deserved justice and love. The path I saw ahead of us went into unknown territory while the learning curve went up sharply. Where to begin, became the number one question in my mind.

What Goes Around Comes Around

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We have a saying in our culture, “What goes around comes around.” To me, the Bible has a clearer meaning of this in what is known as the Golden Rule: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12, NIV). The story I want to share is one of the most profound examples of this.

One of our James Project of Latin American employees got on the bus in her village one afternoon. Living in an area notorious for its violence and drugs, this woman always used caution. Seeing bad things happen around her was a part of her existence, but with prayer and trust in God, she lived her life in the manner available to her.

After boarding the bus for a trip to Guatemala City, she found herself surrounded by several young men. She saw the signs and knew their violent intentions. They moved her off the bus to a secluded area from the bus route. One man took a knife and slit the front of her shirt open from top to bottom. Overcome with panic, Debra* pleaded with the young men, “Please, just kill me.” She had seen suffering and violent behavior in such situations and concluded she just wanted to go Home to her heavenly Father.

Suddenly, one of the young men went up to her and asked, “Are you Miguel’s* wife?” Unable to speak, Debra shook her head yes. “Don’t touch her,” the man said. “When I went to church, her husband was the only man to show me love and respect. I can’t allow this to happen to his wife when he did so many things for me.” His companions released Debra and left her dazed and shook, but physically unharmed.

Debra didn’t know the impact of her testimony to my heart, for it helped me realize how important our daily interactions are with others. Her husband’s relationship with the young man turned the events in Debra’s situation so that her life was spared. He represented a credible witness of the Lord Jesus Christ to this teenager, not knowing the results of his love.

I want to be this type of witness to the people I relate to each day. The rule is basic. I just need to follow my heart with the love of the Lord in my response to others. I’m learning more about trusting the Lord to guide me in my daily actions so that I “will do to others what I want them to do to me.” I wish I could say that I never mess up, but when that happens, I confess the error, get turned in the right direction, and move forward. What a difference life would be if we made the Golden Rule one of our main goals in life.

Trusting the Lord for Protection

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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.

Rescued

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The phone rang, and my hand groped around the bedside table for it. With the phone in hand, I turned on the light, squinting at the clock. Who would call at 3:00 am?

“Halo,” I said in a croaky voice.

“Is this Shadow of His Wings?” a woman asked.

“Yes, it is,” I responded.

“This is the children’s court in Villa Nueva. We have rescued three children who need a safe place to stay,” explained the woman.

Waking up slowly, I decided this had to be a joke. We had never received calls from the court during the night, and I didn’t even know if they had a court in Villa Nueva. “I didn’t realize you folks worked during the night,” I replied, fishing for the jokester to come forth.

“Señora Bishop, we work at all hours, depending on the need. These three children, ages 2, 7, and 8, are in need of a place to stay while there is an investigation. Can we bring them to your orphanage?”

Still not convinced that this woman was serious, I decided it was best to go along with her. “Yes, of course, we will take them. When can we expect them to be here?”

In my mind, I figured we had at least three hours to prepare for them, because it was a three-hour drive from the City. Since this case would require official documents, I could add another couple of hours.

The court secretary committed only to the fact that it would be an early morning arrival, thanked me, and then hung up. I sat in bed wondering who would joke about something like this. If true, it had to be a serious situation for a middle-of-the-night call. I imagined several horrific scenarios that may have prompted it. Unable to sleep the rest of the night, I called our social worker before the sun came up, so she could prepare for the girls. She also thought it might be a joke, but agreed that we needed to treat this circumstance as true.

The police and court official drove through the gate of Shadow of His Wings at nine in the morning. We stood at the door of the office, waiting to meet the rescued girls. My heart felt pain when I saw these dirty, tired girls. The oldest one looked at me with fear. Her face was pale, and her eyes full of tears. The other two seemed to be tranquil, but I knew shock could appear that way.

“Lord protect these little ones, and fill their hearts with peace,” I prayed. I thought of their ages and the stories we’ve heard regarding the other children who had joined our family. However, this was one story I wasn’t prepared for.