Guatemala – June 2009

“I’m taking inner beauty pictures,” I said, referring to pictures of the quaint little corners of the Casa property where the dirt was not the prominent feature in the scene.

“Oh,” replied Talor, “so you’re taking pictures of the kids?”

That statement has returned to my mind over and over since leaving Guatemala last week. The children really are the true beauty of Casa, and yet it has nothing to do with what they look like in the 281 pictures that I took of them. These children are beautiful because of the pain and because of the suffering that each one of them has endured. These children are beautiful because you wouldn’t recognize the pain in their hearts while spending a day playing with them. These children are beautiful because they are happier than I am most days, even though they have practically nothing and remain inside the same walls day after day. These children are beautiful because they recognize the love of Christ upon their wounded hearts.

One of the stories that we heard was of a young girl who stood up in front of everyone at Casa and told them of how the blood of Christ had made her clean. She looked at each individual in the room that night and said “You are clean.” She recognized that even though the outside was often filthy and scarred, the hearts of these children were being made clean and beautiful because of the grace of God upon their hearts and in their lives. This girl knew that inner beauty was possible for her battered soul because of the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit.

There are so many life-changing lessons that I received while in Guatemala, and many of them are still being processed in my mind even now. This particular lesson, though, stands out because I want to be able to see others the way that this girl saw them. She saw their beauty through God’s eyes – she saw their redeemed and adopted hearts. I have the same opportunity.

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” – Titus 3:3-7

Written by Rebekah Burns