Repulsive. Dirty. Cast aside. Unwanted. Abandoned. All of these words described the orphaned girl in the picture. I wanted to turn away, but I couldn’t. I wanted to pretend she wasn’t there, and go back to ironing, cooking, anything to take my mind off the image glaring at me from my computer screen … but I just couldn’t.

I kept hearing God whispering in my spirit, saying : “Look.  You must look at her.”  He told me, “Look closely into her eyes until you see a reflection of Me.”

“But Lord,” I asked.  “There are so many orphans.  Does saving one really matter?

The little two-year old girl in the picture was one of 24 adoptable children at an orphanage in Liberia, Africa. Some of the children were brought to the orphanage after their mother died in childbirth. Others were brought by a desperate and impoverished mother clinging to the hope that through adoption, her child might have a chance at life. Still others were brought by neighbors after the child’s parents died of AIDS.

Orphans have no voice

The reasons why the children came into the orphanage no longer matter once they are there. In an orphanage, the labels “forgotten” “alone” “unwanted” and “cast out” are the world’s banners over them. They have nothing.  They have no home.  They have no parents.  They have no voice.

Not all orphans are adoptable. In fact, an estimated 90% of all orphans in the world will never be eligible for adoption due to the laws of their country. But this little girl in Liberia is one of the fortunate ones. Liberia allows adoptions and actually makes it very easy for families to adopt one of their orphans. Liberian adoption laws are flexible and the cost is minimal compared to other foreign nations.

These reasons were in part why my husband and I decided to adopt from that Liberia again. With our already big family of four biological children and two adopted children, we had a lot of questions.  Can we take another child? Do we have the room? Do we have the resources? How will we send all of them to college? Will we need a bigger vehicle? Can we really do this?

All of those questions melted away as I look into the eyes of the little girl  in the picture. As I stared at her picture, fighting the urge  to turn and forget her, something rose up in my spirit. It overpowered my fear. It silenced my questioning.

A familiar feeling

I’ve felt this before. I felt it the first time I saw my daughter from Haiti. I felt it the first time I held my son from Liberia.  I was so lost in this little girl’s eyes.  The world faded away as I looked at her picture and nothing mattered but saving her. Nothing mattered but replacing “forgotten” with “remembered”, “alone” with “together”, “abandoned” with “chosen”.

Matthew 25:40 says, “Whatever you have done unto one of the least of these, my brothers, you have done it to Me.” So I ask, “Does saving one orphaned child really matter in the big picture?” After all, there are 145 million orphans worldwide. Saving one doesn’t even put a dent in that statistic.

But, my God is not a God of statistics. He is personal and He is close to the poor and the orphaned. So close in fact, that He actually becomes the poor when we minister to them. Look again at Matthew 25:40. “Whatever you have done unto one…”

Yes, one does matter.

The Global Aid Network (GAiN) is one of many Christian organizations that is making a difference in caring for the world. GAiN exists to demonstrate the love of God, in word and deed, to hurting and needy people around the world, through relief and development projects.