14 Aug A Stream in the Desert
Hannah* and her team waded through the slums, avoiding the visible filth and holding their breath to keep the stench of human waste and decaying trash at bay. They were here to rescue four children who had lost their mother to a bacterial infection. As the team carried the children out of the place they called home, Hannah looked around her.
The structure was an empty shell. Furniture and working amenities were luxuries many could not afford. Hannah soon realised the building was also home to her student Kai*, and realisation dawned as to why his clothes were always dirty, or that a malodour that clung to him wherever he went. Her heart broke as she whispered a prayer that she could barely find words for.
Months later, Hannah found Kai at the door of their shelter in the middle of the night. But he was not alone. His mother had fled their home with her seven children, clothes reeking of the slums, bringing nothing with them but the hope of protection from her husband.
Kai’s father was prone to violence, a drug addict and dealer known on the streets. For a decade, Kai’s mother had lived with great fear for her children’s safety.
Hannah and her team worked to mediate a divorce between the couple, but Kai’s father refused to cooperate. He would show up under the influence of drugs, banging doors and hurling insults best left unrepeated.
As the situation escalated, it took a great mental and emotional toll on Kai’s family. The team felt their pain and began to pray fervently. Suddenly, they received words of life: Kai’s maternal grandmother was offering the family refuge in another city. Wasting no time, his family bought bus tickets and left quickly.
As Hannah and her team watched this miracle unfold, they lifted a prayer of thanks — to a God of hope, who always makes a way.
Kai is only one of many children growing up in broken, violent, and dark surroundings.
Pray for:
- Kai and his family as they build new lives away from their father
- Families caught in the cycles of drug abuse, addictions and darkness
- The violent, the broken, the forgotten and the lost, who are also deeply loved by Jesus
- Hannah and her team, as they continue to serve in places that most would squirm to venture into
*Names changed to protect privacy