Take heart! He has overcome the world.

"God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem what is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that He has power but also wonderful foretastes of what He is going to do with that power. Jesus's miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want it coming." - Tim Keller

This is sweet, fifteen-year-old Esther. Esther means "Hidden Star." 

Her smiles are rare, but beautiful. When a visitor enters the gates of New Hope Orphanage, she lingers in the back, quietly waiting to see what will happen next. At fifteen-years-old, she stands tall and thin in her long, floral dress. She stays close with the few friends that have earned her trust over the years, and understandably so. She's been through a lot in her short, little life and she's a fighter. Those that she freely speaks to are few. Those few understand the great gift it is to be let in, and they cherish it deeply. Six-year-old Aida is one of those trusted few. 

Here is six-year-old Aida, Esther's little sister. Aida means "happy" and "running across the fields." The name suits her so perfectly.

Even though Aida is Esther's little sister, the two girls couldn't be more different. Aida is one of the first children to run up to the gate when a visitor walks in. She reaches her arms to the sky as a request to be picked up, and once she is picked up, she will say in her adorably raspy voice, "Auntie, I want shoes. Auntie, I want crayons." And of course, I find myself getting her whatever she asks for as long as I can find it. After all the trauma, disease, and poverty that Aida's family fought through to make it here together, it is a wonder that this little girl can live with so much joy and compassion for others. She shakes her little hips while she hand washes her clothes on Saturdays and she cares for the younger babies of the orphanage with glee. Even on my dreariest of days, one glimpse at Aida is enough to strengthen my faith in the healing, fully transformative power of Jesus. 

I love the way this photo shows the fullness of Aida's love and joy in caring for the littler ones around her. Back in 2012 when baby Linda was really sick and none of us could certainly say that she would make it, I avoided baby Linda out of fear that I'd accidentally hurt or break her. Aida taught me differently as she cared for and played with the sick with fearless abandon and love that overflowed from her joy.

If you ask Aida who her best friend is, she will say "Esther," her beloved older sister. Though they are opposites in personality, they loved each other fiercely and to the end. 

One week ago, I received the news from Uganda that Esther has gone to be with Jesus. 

Esther leaves behind three beautiful younger siblings, each of them incredible souls that I have no doubt will grow up to build a better and more beautiful Uganda. Each of them forever impacted by the way their oldest sister cared for them so lovingly and selflessly throughout the darkest of trials. Trials that no children should ever have to go through, though they all did. Esther is the bravest, strongest fifteen-year-old I have ever met, and though my soul hurts and weeps that her time with us and her family at New Hope Orphanage was cut tragically short, we can rejoice that she no longer lives at an orphanage, and her soul is finally home forever with her Father in heaven. 

I love this photo of Esther - one of the rare moments she smiled for me during my third and final summer spent with this sweet and beautiful daughter of God. 

Only a few days later, I received the news that Sam, one of the sweetest boys I met at Ekisa special needs orphanage also joined Esther in heaven this week. 

Here is sweet, sweet Sam with the most handsome smile you have ever seen. Sam means "God listens to us." 

Sam was so loved by every child, staff, and volunteer at Ekisa. He could win anyone over with his handsome smile and he got along with just about everybody. Every time I'd walk in through the gates, he'd run confidently over and say, "Auntie, we play guitar!" He loved music and learning so much. Sam, I will never forget how much you loved watching Karate Kid together and then practicing karate moves on everything at Ekisa afterwards. I will always cherish the times we got to work on your homework together and play the guitar together (I played the chords while you moved the pick up and down the strings and you were awesome at it). Sam, I am so thankful I got to be a part of your short, but love-filled life while here on earth. We miss you so much but cannot help but rejoice that you are home now with Jesus. I cannot wait to see you and Esther again in heaven someday. 

We rejoice because Sam will never again go into crisis due to sickle-cell in heaven. We rejoice because Sam and Esther lived in orphanages on this side of heaven but now they are forever home, resting in the arms of their Father. We rejoice because there are no such thing as orphanages, sickle-cell anemia, depression, trauma, or loneliness in heaven. Esther and Sam's healing is now complete and we can only continue praising our sweet Savior who gives and takes away. We can continue to trust in Jesus because He has walked our path and He knows our pain fully. Our tears matter to Him and He weeps with us through the heaviest of storms. We can fix our eyes on Jesus and remember that He is faithful and we can trust Him. 

When I begin to doubt, I will fix my eyes on the Jesus in Aida as she continues to care for the babies of the orphanage when they are sick and when they are well. Exactly the way her older sister cared for her since before she can remember. 

I will fix my eyes on the Jesus in James (Esther's little brother) as he continues to excel in math and create artwork that is beauty in the midst of so much pain. 

I will fix my eyes on the Jesus in Grace (one of Sam's little brothers at Ekisa) as he continues to grow and learn as a typical child in a special needs orphanage. I have no doubt he will grow up to be a strong agent of change for a future Uganda that fully accepts and celebrates people with disabilities. 

I will fix my eyes on the Jesus at Ekisa home for special needs children, where children with disabilities are loved and celebrated for the way they are created in the image of God. Where children are placed into forever families, and where I hope to spend all of next year as a special education teacher and missionary to a community that has taught me more about God's grace and more about what heaven on earth could really look like than any I've known before. 

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus and the coming of a New Year while mourning the sudden loss of two beautiful children, we can cling to a Savior that knows the way in which sorrow comes hand in hand with joy in the all-surpassing power of Jesus. Our suffering is temporary but our healing is eternal. "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33