Reflections from the Field

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Originally uploaded by LeslieBurdick

I like the pattern of working full-time and coming home from work to chill at the apartment with the roomies. It's a great routine. I feel that in this first month in Bolivia, everything is so new that I can't seem to pray, reflect, journal and read enough. I'm enjoying my schedule and I'm finding my work meaningful and my need for God very high. Today, I was listening to a sermon that Gary Haugen (director of IJM) gave at a leadership conference at Willow Creek and his words were incredibly relevant. He was talking about how some people in the world don't necessarily need us to bring them the gospel, food, or shelter; they need us to fight their oppressors for justice and relief on their behalf. He went on to speak about how this call can be completely overwhelming. We might say - "Lord, what could I possibly have to offer in situations so grave and overwhelming?" (This is how I feel.) But Gary talked about how it is God's work, and the results are his responsibility. His plan is to use us, his people, as instruments of justice, but he is the one in control. It's like the feeding of the 5,000. The disciples were incapable of this feat, but Jesus asked them to offer what they had anyway. He then multiplied their efforts, and the multitudes were fed and satisfied. This message is very relevant to me as an IJM intern. I find myself sitting in the office feeling that the obstacles are too great and the need is too overwhelming. At the office, we take cases of child sexual abuse, and we don't have one case that isn't horrifying. Not only is it painful to imagine what these small girls have been through, but it is also frustrating how difficult it is to get justice for them here. It feels like there are so many things that are against us. The judges are being bribed to support the other side, the jury and prosecutors don't show up to the trials or the hearings, the safe houses aren't taking good care of our clients, police officers are often indifferent, perpetrators are disappearing before we can apprehend them, perpetrators and their families are assaulting the victims' families before or after their hearings, and today, a hospital told us that it will be a month before they can give one of our clients (a baby who was beaten by his stepfather) a surgery that he really should have had last week. Each situation is riddled with pain and hardship, and it often feels as if we are being attacked both from the outside and from within. But we continue to trust that this is the Lord's work. We are his humble and obedient servants, constantly putting our hope and trust in him. I know God has prepared us for this work, but at the same time we are completely weak, feeble, and powerless. This reminds me of a verse that is quite familiar by now: 2 Cor 1:9 We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure...But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.