different yet the same

I am twenty years old. I live in the united states and I am in school at Auburn University. I have a mother who is a constant example of a Proverbs 31 woman and a father who is the most amazing example of what a father and husband should be. They love me unconditionally and continuously point me to Christ. As I have grown up, they have disciplined me out of love. They have taught me sound doctrine and they have taught me to make my faith my own. They point me to truth. They pray for me. They work hard to give me opportunities and experiences. They support the call to missions their children have received. I have siblings who are my best friends. They are faithful to pray for me and with me. They keep me accountable. They study the Word with me. They love me.

Mirna is nineteen years old (almost my age). She lives in a government facility (Las Casitas) in San Pedro Sula, Honduras with her beautiful daughters- Paola who is four and Dulce who is two- and about 130 other teenage girls ages thirteen to nineteen. Mirna brought herself to Casitas about two years ago seeking protection and refuge. She had no other place to go. About five years ago, when Mirna was just a girl and living at home, her father began to rape her. She became pregnant and had Paola. Her father continued to rape her. Two years later she became pregnant again. She had Dulce. Since then she has been in Casitas. The government is allowing her to stay there past the set age, which is a blessing. She helps clean and take care of things. 

             

Mirna is nineteen and has the face of someone so much older. She has been through so much. The beautiful lines in her face tell a story. She is such a beautiful young woman. And oh my goodness!! She is the most amazing mother. She cares so well for Paola and Dulce. They respect her and they obey her. She prays for them and does everything in her power to give them what she can. It is amazing to see the providence of God in their lives. Here her daughters are the products of their grandfather and yet they are beautiful and so smart. God is faithful. 

I cannot help but question why our circumstances are so different. My flesh returns to that question I ask much too frequently, "Why?" "Why was I born into such a beautiful family? Why was I born in the United States? Why does my dad love me unconditionally and as a father should while Mirna's father rapes her? Why have I been blessed with more than I have need for?"  I don't receive an answer. Then I wait for Him in silence and He is faithful to remind me... I know why He utters no answer, He is Himself the answer. Before Him questions die away. What other answer would suffice aside from Him? So, why are our stories and circumstances different? For His glory. I do not understand it, but I trust it. I trust His answer because He is sovereign. 

As different as our stories are, Mirna and I share something in common. We were both helpless, completely depraved in our state before Christ. We are alike in the fact that we could do no good, we are in need of a Savior and we have both tasted grace. We have been given an inheritance that we cannot earn. We have been adopted. We are children of God.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." -Galatians 4:4-7