Airplanes are amazing things. One day you're in one country and the next, you're on the complete opposite side of the world. This past Sunday found me at home in Charlotte, NC, at my home church, Grace Bible Church. And while it was great to be there, it's also overwhelming. People are constantly hugging and talking and asking questions and you want to explain things, but there's not really adequate time. It seems that there's so much activity and you(or rather, me) are the one who has to adjust to it. I kind of felt like I was wandering around: there, but not really there.
And right then God brought an incredible blessing to me: a little girl, Lena(she has a different name now, but that is her Russian name), who was adopted from Ukraine only four months ago. She speaks English quite well, actually, but was feeling overwhelmed by all the new people in a new place. At first quite shy, I wasn't even sure if she wanted to speak with me, so I said hello, spoke for a minute and moved on. A few minutes later I realized she had found me again and was standing there watching me talk. So I went over and sat down and started speaking with her in Russian. As church started, she asked to sit with me and I was so glad that I had my Russian New Testament with me, as well as some bulletins from the last several weeks of church in Odessa.
Sunday happened to be Communion: a time of remembering the sacrifice and great gift of life that our Savior gave us. She didn't know what was going on and I thought, "I don't know if I can explain this in Russian!" But praise God, I thought it through and explained that we do this to remember that Christ died for us, was buried and rose again- and that in doing so, if we believe, we can have eternal life with Him. She said, "Oh yes! I know about that!" As we sat there and wrote notes back and forth and I tried to listen to the sermon, =-), I saw this little girl watching me. And I realized through her notes to me, that though she's very happy to have been adopted, she misses the security of everything she knew back in Ukraine. It may not have been a good life, but it was the life she knew. And I understood that to her, I was just a little bit of "home." After church was over, she didn't want to leave me and it made me want to just hold her and comfort her. I gave her my e-mail, promised that I would write and said goodbye.
This afternoon I received a sweet e-mail from her and I know that this tie is very important to her. I know that God put me there on that very Sunday to bless this little girl and in turn, to use her to bless me. "Thank you, Lord, for letting me be a comfort to this little child and thank you for being my comforter!!"
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