Let’s admit it, we get far to busy to look at people. To look into their eyes, to smile, to acknowledge each other. We can get so busy rushing around getting things done, we miss eachother’s faces.
I have been really looking at faces while I have been in Nepal. Empty eyes. Exhausted eyes. Terror filled eyes. Confused glazed over eyes. Eyes that continue to search out the nearest exit as aftershocks continue to re-traumatize several times a day.
These are not just people on a news story– these are people WITH a story. And God has a story He is writing for their lives to. I am praying so deeply for those who do not know Him to hear about His story. The Nepalese people keep saying , ” Nepal is broken.” I have heard that so many times. I want them to know in the midst of this brokenness about the one, JESUS, whose body was broken for them to be free.
I want to show you some of the faces of trauma — of the earthquake. Their faces may not be in the news anymore, but they are real faces, real people, real hearts. And I love them. And Jesus loves them more.
I met this man on the road today when our car overheated.
I used the term road loosely. When He realized I spoke Nepalee, He began showing me His broken home (it’s below the picture you see and it was so broken it is shattered in pieces). He then pointed out where all His family members had died. He kept saying, ”what do I do?” I told Him I would pray for Him in the name of Jesus. He had NEVER heard of Jesus. When I prayed for Him, tears came- for both of us.
This little boy would not play our games, sing our songs, use our crayons. He just sat there, with these glazed over eyes. My heart shattered as I looked at him and tried to make Him smile. They told us He had not spoken since the earthquake. This face may not be on the news — but this is the face of trauma.
These faces were in the church that was flattened in the earthquake. They escaped while 8 of their church family is buried inside. The girl on the left lost her parents and grandparents as they were buried beneath rubble. These girls begged me to lay hands on them and pray. I prayed for God to be with them. To love them, to hug them tight. To show them His presence and peace.
These are the faces of trauma.
And this is the face of the only one I know that can make sense of all this trauma… who can bring hope in the rubble, and who can heal the broken.
