Listen closely!

In the late 1990s, I was privileged to lead more than 15 mission’s trips to work in a government-run hospital inhabited by abandoned babies in Romania. Many of those teams came from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI, where I worked as an adjunct professor. Choosing the team members happened through a five-star process. If the person answered five questions in line with my requirements, they got a star for each answer. Hence, each five-star person would go on the trip.

One of the first interviewees, Sara, was dressed head to toe in black and had more piercings and tattoos than I had ever seen on one person. I thought, Oh Lord, not this, not on my first trip! I had dismissed her before she answered one question.

Much to my surprise, Sara received star after star as she told her testimony. She was saved in a backyard Bible club and then brought her parents to church where they both got saved! She didn’t just want a passport stamp, she wanted to know what God had for her future. She had prayed to go on this trip and she was leaning on God to provide the money because she didn’t have any. By the time the interview was over, I looked down and she had five stars! How did that happen?

Over the course of the trip, Sara became attached to a baby girl named Luiza. On the way home to the USA, Sara told me she was going back. I told her that was nice and I hoped she would sometime. She said, “No, Mrs. Ritchie, I signed up for two years as a missionary. I’m going back!” She did, and she stayed 7 years - long enough to become a Romanian citizen.

That was over 12 years ago. Sara has since adopted that little girl, married a Christian Romanian man and given birth to a little girl! God did an amazing work in her. But He worked in me, too. I had to drop all my preconceived  notions of who was right for those trips and begin to listen to what was on people’s hearts. God opened my eyes and ears to listen...and I’ve never listened the same since.

Listening has become a way of life for me now. I desire to know people’s hearts for the work and I don’t look on the outward appearance anymore. It took a young tattooed and pierced girl to show me that lesson.

Maybe you can learn something from this true story today. Today, begin to look at the children around you as who they are on the inside instead of just what you see on the outside. Don’t judge them before you’ve heard their stories and their hearts desires. They need someone to listen, really listen to them. Maybe that someone could be you.

“...for man looks at the outward appearance,

but the Lord looks at the heart.” I Samuel 16:7b