2011 – June

Carriers of Hope

I want you to think for a moment of the hopeful eyes of a young child who awakens the morning of his birthday, fully confident of a promised party and birthday presents. Such elation fills the heart! Such anticipation of good! Though the sun’s rays are merely peeking over the eastern horizon, that child can leap out of bed with tremendous energy and expectation, fully ready to experience all that awaits him. What an example of the power of this force called hope!

Hope lifts the heart that was once heavy, and brings light to the eyes that before only saw a dismal future. Hope is “the anticipation of good from God in every arena of life. It’s the understanding and belief that with God I win, no matter what. It helps me build in the valley what I saw on the mountain.1”

Many live without hope. Their eyes tell their story well. We have looked into the eyes of children living in the streets of impoverished nations, pregnant with hunger and pregnant with despair. They do not know hope. We have looked into the faces of widows and orphans for whom the rising of the sun means nothing more than another day of struggle to survive. They need hope.

Through Christ Jesus, WE can give them the hope they need. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that the Lord has thoughts concerning their future. “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God has carriers of His hope all throughout the earth. They are those who can look at lives filled with challenge and see an opportunity to build with God. In the midst of great adversity and challenge, hope carriers can see others, and circumstances, through the lens of the greatness of their God instead of the magnitude of their problems.

With each dollar you have given to this ministry, you have given hope to those whose lives have known great challenge. Look at the pictures below. Those beds, those building supplies, and the food that we have helped to provide have brought tremendous hope to children living in great adversity. I believe each night that those boys lay down in clean, new beds, with full stomachs and nourished hearts, they have an easier time believing in a God of hope. The dollar amount that may or may not have affected your life too immensely has GREATLY affected theirs. I just want to thank you again, and remind you that your involvement with the Home of Refuge is an involvement with hope. It is an opportunity to build with the God of hope—as a carrier of hope.

We are planning to return to Peru soon, with the purpose of visiting additional locations where children are in great need. God has hope for Peru. God has thoughts of peace…and a future and a hope…for each child living there. Who will be a carrier of God’s hope for them? Who will share with them God’s thoughts of peace, magnifying the Lord ABOVE their problems, and building with God for the next generation? With your help, WE WILL! We need your hope in this ministry and your hope in God’s ability to use YOU to make a difference. Together we can be carriers of His hope to Peru.

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

With great appreciation,
Rosa Rivera
Homes of Refuge, International