Sara is HOME
I posted last year about Sara Daniela, how I had just fallen in love with this sweet, tiny girl when we were in Honduras, and was so excited to come home and officially become her sponsor through the Children’s Cup program. And then I heard that she had been taken.
The details are not mine to share on social media but we feared for Sara’s life and knew she was in unspeakable danger. God called me to pray for her and write about her, and has continued to bring her to my mind and break my heart over and over again.
Her story is not unique. Her story is the reason I am so passionate about the work we do with She Is More Than. Every teenage girl that comes to us out of sex trafficking has a story of early trauma, often at the hands of close friends or family.
But… Sara Daniela, even if her story is not unique…. she IS unique. She is the only Sara Daniela in the whole world, she is fearfully and wonderfully made. She hurts and hopes like any other little girl. I loved her just for the little time we had spent together and the way God had knit my heart to hers. I grieved heavily for Sara.
Lamentations 3:49-51
My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
Thousands of years ago, Jeremiah grieved for the women of his city, also. I imagine he saw this evil story being played out over and over again. It’s an old story.
I shared Sara’s picture with friends and the Facepage world and I was so blessed by your responses. Many of my friends all over the world prayed for Sara and continued to do so for this whole past year. I’ve still been getting inquiries and reminders that people are praying. It was the most beautiful picture of the body of Christ as a whole, and a reminder of how good God is, to remind us all to pray. To call us with Him into this process of brokenness and redemption.
For the first weeks I was expectant. Hundreds of people had prayed; surely God would answer. Yet still, Sara was gone. I was finally able to surrender the outcome. I prayed for God to take her home… if He would not remove her from danger, then just to bring her to Himself. And then I surrendered it all (finally), recognizing that He didn't have to show me the end of the story, and trusting that He could rescue her in any number of ways that I would never know about. He would still remind me to pray, and I would, but I no longer expected to see Sara Daniela.
Lamentations 3:55-58
I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
And then, God did it. I just heard tonight that Sara is back home with her mother.
Sara. Is. Home.
God did the miraculous. This man brought her back, surrendered her back to her mother, and then took off again.
Her story is not over. She will have to find healing and walk that out, and we will still be praying for this bruised and battered family. It will take a miracle to bring her to full healing and redemption.
But this is what I know. My God is the God who sees. He sees the poor and broken hearted. He mourns with those who mourn. And my God is the God of hope, of redemption, of beauty from ashes. My God is faithful.
Lamentation 3:21-24
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
He is good, and He is enough. We wait for Him and praise Him in the waiting, knowing that His plans are always for more than we could ever ask or imagine. God, you are so good.
The details are not mine to share on social media but we feared for Sara’s life and knew she was in unspeakable danger. God called me to pray for her and write about her, and has continued to bring her to my mind and break my heart over and over again.
Her story is not unique. Her story is the reason I am so passionate about the work we do with She Is More Than. Every teenage girl that comes to us out of sex trafficking has a story of early trauma, often at the hands of close friends or family.
But… Sara Daniela, even if her story is not unique…. she IS unique. She is the only Sara Daniela in the whole world, she is fearfully and wonderfully made. She hurts and hopes like any other little girl. I loved her just for the little time we had spent together and the way God had knit my heart to hers. I grieved heavily for Sara.
Lamentations 3:49-51
My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
Thousands of years ago, Jeremiah grieved for the women of his city, also. I imagine he saw this evil story being played out over and over again. It’s an old story.
I shared Sara’s picture with friends and the Facepage world and I was so blessed by your responses. Many of my friends all over the world prayed for Sara and continued to do so for this whole past year. I’ve still been getting inquiries and reminders that people are praying. It was the most beautiful picture of the body of Christ as a whole, and a reminder of how good God is, to remind us all to pray. To call us with Him into this process of brokenness and redemption.
For the first weeks I was expectant. Hundreds of people had prayed; surely God would answer. Yet still, Sara was gone. I was finally able to surrender the outcome. I prayed for God to take her home… if He would not remove her from danger, then just to bring her to Himself. And then I surrendered it all (finally), recognizing that He didn't have to show me the end of the story, and trusting that He could rescue her in any number of ways that I would never know about. He would still remind me to pray, and I would, but I no longer expected to see Sara Daniela.
Lamentations 3:55-58
I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
And then, God did it. I just heard tonight that Sara is back home with her mother.
Sara. Is. Home.
God did the miraculous. This man brought her back, surrendered her back to her mother, and then took off again.
Her story is not over. She will have to find healing and walk that out, and we will still be praying for this bruised and battered family. It will take a miracle to bring her to full healing and redemption.
But this is what I know. My God is the God who sees. He sees the poor and broken hearted. He mourns with those who mourn. And my God is the God of hope, of redemption, of beauty from ashes. My God is faithful.
Lamentation 3:21-24
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
He is good, and He is enough. We wait for Him and praise Him in the waiting, knowing that His plans are always for more than we could ever ask or imagine. God, you are so good.
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