Karen and Ivett’s Orphanage Adventure
A Journey from Fear to Freedom
By Karen Hullfish
I was standing next to a tiny teenage girl posing for a selfie on top of a plateau, overlooking the Baja coast. It was south of Tijuana Mexico, in an orphanage/foster home for abandoned children and battered women. I felt waves of gratitude and wonder rush over me as I considered what the Lord had done in the lives of these precious ones in the last two hours or so since we first met.
Suddenly, I realized that the young woman beside me was embracing me, and my heart was deeply touched by her affectionate gesture. I was humbled and amazed by her transformation from the shy girl that couldn’t speak to the group about her painting to the smiling, free person who wrapped her arms around me. Time stood still as I cherished the moment.
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It all started a few months ago when a coworker invited me to come with her to visit an orphanage in Tijuana that she heard about since she has lived near that area. She thought I would enjoy going to meet them and bringing them socks. We talked about the possibility of me teaching an art healing class. However, she could only take me there on a Thursday when our employer was out of the office and we were both off work. The plan was that she would translate for me and drive me over the border to the orphanage and back to the U.S. border. She agreed to call the orphanage and find out how many children were there and get permission to come and visit and teach an art class. I began to pray and seek the Lord about what to teach.
Since I am a planner, I like to know ahead of time who I will be meeting and teaching before I minister somewhere. But it was time for me to learn to walk by faith and let God do the work to show me where to go and allow Him to flow through me. He is the one who connects and draws people together for HIs purposes. No one spoke English and I don’t speak Spanish. Also, I was terrified of going into Mexico to an orphanage sight unseen.
I had to push through the fear by focusing on the love of God for those precious orphans and young women. I reflected on something Liza said at our last Lifestreams small group session. She said she got to the point in her life when she decided to draw a line in the sand and refused to live in fear for another second. She said she declared, “I HATE FEAR!” and she chose to love God with all her energy instead. I also recalled a prayer from Lauren’s over me and it bolstered by confidence.
Over the weeks and months, I felt drawn to teach from Psalm 68, Ephesians 4, and Romans 8:28. All of these scriptures had to do with learning our true identity in Christ so we can discover HIs purpose for our lives and live passionately for Him and for those He loves. I asked the Lord for clarity as I wrote the lesson, and focused on targeting teenagers and young women. I prayed for Holy Spirit empowerment to breakthrough years of pain and confusion in their lives. I was keenly aware from teaching art healing classes with the homeless, that the anointing destroys bondage. God has always been faithful to honor His word when I speak it over the class before they paint. This time I was going into the unknown, into a country close by but still very foreign to me, and into a culture that I was not completely familiar with, but I deeply loved.
Then three days before the day we were supposed to go, I learned via text message that my coworker had not contacted the orphanage yet and was unable to go with me due to her sister coming to visit her from Mazatlan unexpectedly. However, she did text me the website with the name of the place. In my spirit, I felt like I was in labor and there was absolutely no way this baby’s birth was going to be delayed. Still, I surrendered the outcome to God and decided not to force anything. I made a call right away to the phone number on the website and waited. There was no address, just photos and mission statements. Finally, at the end of the day, I got a call back from a director in California and after 3 more calls to other directors, I was able to share my heart and explain what art healing classes were all about.
The best question they asked me was “Is it the art that heals?” I replied, “No, it is Jesus and hearing the Living Word of God that heals!”.
I felt relief on the other end of the line but I was then told that the children had already had a special guest visit them earlier in the week and they had to attend school. The director/daddy who lived on the premises would need to call me the next day.
So I waited… and prayed. I called Ivett, (whom I had invited to come with my coworker and me a couple of months earlier) and told her the situation. We could not go without their approval and blessing. Then, at 9 pm. Wednesday night before the day I had planned to go, the text came through that I was approved to come and visit with Ivett. HAPPY DANCE!!! I texted back to ask for the address and they told me to just use Google Maps. That was easy.
THANK GOD for IVETT!! She met me in her clean, white sedan along with her son Abraham at the border. She fearlessly drove us all the way uphill on the unpaved, treeless road without street signs and we passed shacks built with makeshift materials. I wanted to cry at the blight of poverty I witnessed. The GPS failed for a moment and we took a small diversion, but the GPS came back on and we found the right road.
Once we arrived, our 6 lovely teenage girls gathered in a concrete meeting room, all wearing curious smiles. We set up tables away from the old mattresses in the corner and gave the small children pencils and paper plates to draw on while we prepared for the class. I was so excited to watch them paint about who they truly are and how much they are loved by God. Ivett helped me to stick to my rule about only having the teenagers in the class. She diplomatically told the director/mama to usher the younger ones out.
Ivett translated every scripture and my lesson and then directed them to paint what it feels like to be safe in God’s arms or what it looks like to be fully loved by the God of heaven and earth who formed us. Abraham found Jesus Culture on Ivett’s phone and synced it to my speaker. Soon worship music flooded the room with the love of God. The tunes were familiar to me and I was delighted that they all could understand the words sung in Spanish. Not one of the women spoke English, and Ivett was so loving and nurturing as she interacted with them and encouraged them to share their stories behind their paintings. I invited her to paint too. They all painted 3 canvas boards each even though I gave them a choice to stop and got a unanimous decision to continue painting.
I was watching Ivett as she listened intently to the girls. As they shared, she then would interpret to me. Many times I was astounded by their spiritual insights. But I noticed as they were sharing about their first paintings that they would often refer to their imperfections and sin. It was apparent that they had a sin mindset and condemnation was affecting their identity and value. They used dark colors and painted gray skies, and one girl even painted a black heart to represent her sinful nature. I could see that they needed to understand the grace of God and how God views them as clean, forgiven and beautiful. Ivett and I were on the same page and the Holy Spirit moved among us. I read scriptures about how the Holy Spirit unveils the love of God for us so that we can see and experience His love.
Then…. Breakthrough happened!! The last painting they did was after I read Romans 8:28, Each of them painted about how God sees them and loves them. Suddenly we saw light and bright colors on their canvas boards to represent hope and freedom. Everyone was sharing what they painted and why they painted it. We saw more smiling faces and no traces of shame or condemnation. It was such a beautiful sight! Ivett and I were so grateful to be able to witness the healing power of the love of Jesus.
After the class, we were given a tour by the director/daddy who told us that the young women we taught were there temporarily. He showed us a half finished cement block building that will be used for vocational training to give the women a trade in tortilla making or sewing so that they can earn a living after they leave and return to their home countries. Sadly, construction was halted due to lack of funds.
Other buildings were in the same incomplete state but I felt a permeating sense of hope and gratitude from the children and the directors.
As we drove back down the steep dirt and rock road to the coastal highway, I marveled at how calm Ivett was when a cement truck barrelled up beside us. The driver waved at us as he flew by. I prayed for our safety while she smiled and pulled over to the side of the narrow road.
I reflected on the joys of the day with Ivett. I quietly pondered how the Lord used this experience to teach me to overcome fear by resting in His love. I was so glad that I chose love over fear, because love broke through and set me free.
Before we left, the director/daddy of the place told us we always had a home there after he gave us a tour and it was all I could to stop myself from tearing up at his words. All our prayers for the girls and the class had been answered. But what was most remarkable to me was how the Lord opened all the doors and overcame every obstacle as I waited and rested and trusted Him to lead the way.