The Ones

The following was written by Susanna Lynam for ICC's Focus newsletter in February 2010.

It constantly amazes me that when God looks at the billions of people on planet Earth, He doesn’t see crowds and teeming masses; He sees ‘ones’, each individual face, each unique smile, each precious life.

We know He is God and yet it still overwhelms us that He sees each hair as it falls from our head, catches each tear that falls from our eyes, knows when we sit and when we stand and knows our thoughts before we even say a word.

Jesus demonstrated the Father’s heart for the ‘Ones’. He met the needs of every individual that came to Him but also sought out those too broken, too lonely, too ashamed, too diseased, too oppressed, and too weak to make the journey to Him. Jesus noticed the ‘Ones’.

It’s easy when we look at a country like China to see only crowds and teeming masses. It’s easy to grow complacent, it’s easy to forget that those crowds are full of ‘Ones’.

Just last week I held a little one; one of China’s many, abandoned children. Her name was Yang Fu Bing. She was abandoned recently at the Welfare Centre in Heng Yang. Looking premature and that she might be suffering from a heart defect, it soon became apparent that she needed intervention if she was to survive.

The problem was that there was another premature baby boy also needing help and only one position left in ICC’s baby rooms.

One of our long, term volunteers stepped in and offered to take Yang Fu Bing home with her and give her the one-on-one care she needed. The other little boy has also joined ICC’s Heng Yang family.

As I held this little girl, I thought about how her life had just changed because someone had come from a far away land, to demonstrate God’s heart to seek and to save the lost ‘Ones’.

I thought about her destiny and wondered what lay in store for this precious life. The life, the face that God had always known about even before she was born; the one that meant so much to Him that He called a couple in their 60’s to leave the comfort of home and family, to come and meet the needs of ‘ones’ like Bing.

Bing will get adopted one day and will most probably leave the shores of China to embrace a whole new life. I pray she grows up always remembering how precious she is and how amazingly loved she is. I hope she’ll share her story and that it will lead other ‘ones’ to His mercy, comfort and grace.

ICC’s work is built on the commitment and sacrifice of people. I can tell Bing’s story because of the commitment and sacrifice of our volunteers who have gone to seek out and meet the needs of ones just like Bing.

ICC’s work has also continued to flourish and grow because of the commitment and sacrifice of people’s giving, both financially and prayerfully. The commitment and sacrifice of people like you.

Thank you for prayerfully and financially standing with us; for refusing to be complacent and journeying with us as we continue to demonstrate God’s heart for the ‘Ones’. Over the years we have seen so many answers to prayer; God has continued to respond faithfully to our hearts’ cries.

Susanna

If you would care to make a real difference in the life of one of China's orphans, please read ICC's website and find out how you can:

Pray - receive a monthly newsletter and pray each day for one of the children or volunteer staff members or any other ICC need;

Give - make a one off or a regular donation to the work of ICC; or

Go - on a Short Term Team and be the "someone from a faraway land" to show His love for these children.

We began our relationship with Wang Xiang (Deborah) through an ICC Short Term Team eight years ago, and we have been blessed with her (and God's) joy every day because of it.

20Mar10