Guest Post: Victoria Way

I really think there is only a certain level of compassion a person can have from the outside looking in. Of course, your heart can be sad from a story that you hear or from things that you know are happening to innocent people in foreign places, but only to a certain extent. For instance, my heart is only able to be so heavy for the people of Syria—and I think it’s because there is just a new level of compassion to be had for people that you know personally. That’s what is happening to me here in Guatemala. What I thought was heartbreak before is nothing compared to the heartbreak I feel when I actually look the hurting people of this place in the eyes. Because there is something that happens to you when you get to know people. It changes everything.

While I’ve seen all kinds of illnesses since I’ve been here, this one patient continues to stick out in my mind. She was 18 years old, and her complaint was that she felt pain in her heart. Though this could have easily been a medical emergency, I quickly found out that the chest pain was due to sadness and anxiety from things that were going on in her life. Have you ever had a moment where it felt like a lightening bolt strikes all the way through you? That’s how I felt talking to this patient, and I know why. Because I’m not that far away from eighteen. Because I remember what it was like to be her age, and because I remember my biggest concerns being getting to class on time and what I was doing that weekend. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be? When you’re 18, shouldn’t you be carefree? Not here, and not in many places. And, of course, I was never naïve enough to think otherwise, but it’s a different thing when you see it firsthand and suddenly have the overwhelming realization there is such a disparity between your life and hers. It wasn’t even so much this particular story of this particular patient as it was the whole wealth of people that she represented to me. How’s that for heartbreak #1 million.

Here are two silver linings to this story:

11.     She came to us, and for that she heard of the peace that God can provide and the hope that is found in Jesus. He is the only hope for all of us, no matter where you live or what you are doing. And I remembered that even though my life was so much easier at 18, I was essentially floating in the same boat as she is. A life apart from Christ is an empty life from every angle. I can only hope that the words we spoke to her sink in. For his yoke is easy, and his burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

22.     I delight in the fact that God is breaking my heart for the things that break his. My desire is to care deeply about the things that my heavenly Father cares about—so I can only pray that He keeps opening my eyes to see things as they really are.

As I think about this little girl more (though she’s not really so little), I remember how essential the Gospel is to every single person everywhere on the planet. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news” (Isaiah 52:7a). Please pray that we would continue to be those feet!