He heals the brokenhearted

and binds up their wounds.  Psalm 147:3

I am claiming this for Katya.  There is so much joy and laughter in her days here, and yet there are glimpses of deep pain.  I wouldn't expect anything less.  She was abandoned as a 2.2 pound preemie in the hospital, but rescued by her grandmother.  This woman loved her and protected her and saw for her a hope and a future, and so when Katya was six years old, she put her into an orphanage.  How can that be love?  Katya's grandmother, her babushka, is getting older and older.  And Katya is getting older.  Very few people want to adopt older children.  The sooner Katya has "orhan status," the sooner she could get adopted.  So, I see this release of Katya into the orphanage as an act of extreme love.

Katya has gone from being granddaughter to being orphan.  Her identity has changed.  How absolutely heartbreaking.  How does she even grapple with what has happened to her?  

When I consider my identity, I view myself as one who has been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the inheritance of the sons of light.  I'm like Much-Afraid of Hind's Feet on High Places who has been given a new name.  My life is hid in Christ and it is infinitely better than the life I struggled to build for myself. 

But Katya has been transferred from her grandmother's care to an institution.   She is no longer a granddaughter; she is an orphan.

Unlike me, there is One who suffered the loss of His Name, the loss of His position, who was born out of wedlock  and adopted as a carpenter's son.  He didn't grasp for His true identity but humbled Himself and served you and me as a bondservant upon the Cross.  He went from "right-hand glory status" to "flesh-covered slave."  And He loves Katya.  She is His special one.   

So, we need prayer.  Katya needs healing that only God can bring.  And Bill and I need Spirit-given power, wisdom, and insight to know how to be the hands and feet of Jesus to Katya, how to give her a glimpse of her true identity, how to spread the banquet feast before her.  And our children need protection, understanding, and compassion way beyond their years.  So, pray for us please.

Lord, you are so close to the brokenhearted. You save those who are crushed in spirit.  You came to bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the blind.  Do what you love to do in Katya's life and ours.  Increase our capacity to love both You and this precious one.  And give us more of You in the process.