His Fullness

The sound of their laughter wakes me up in the morning.  It's one of the things I never want to forget about this place…

Thin apartment walls mean the children living in the Healing Home next door sound like they are in my own bedroom.  Sometimes at night the sound of a crying baby briefly stirs me from my sleep, but I suppose that's just good practice.

But it's the sound at 7:00 every morning that will always stay with me.

It starts with laughter, but it quickly moves to singing.  The orphans next door awake with joy, and often usher me into Joy's presence.

Many would say the sound of orphans would be their cries.  The picture of orphans would be their empty eyes.  Those things are true.  We've heard those sounds and seen those pictures; it is what first brought us to China.

But if that's all I ever heard and saw, I might have lost hope a long time ago.  If that's where things ended, I would have questioned His goodness.  But instead, He wakes me with their laughter and reminds me of His presence.  He doesn't just meet their physical needs, He fills them with love…  His fullness.  And He does the same for you and me.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19

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Any guesses about who the bundled up sweetie-pie is?  There's no prize... just my congratulations if you get it right.  :)  And can I just say, though I was neither the photographer (that would be Ganlu) nor there when the picture was taken, I got it right on the very first try.  Prideful, aren't I.