Holli with some of the Home of Hope girls
It’s truly difficult to put into words how deeply meaningful and life changing this trip to Bangladesh was for me. I’m still waiting for the day to come that I don’t cry when I think about this experience, and in truth, I hope that it never does.
One of the things that rang true for me is something that I have heard my friend* say time and time again: “you can’t out give God.” Whatever I was able to give, God used these beautiful people and this incredible place to give abundantly more to me. I never walked without a hand to hold. I never sat with an empty lap. There wasn’t a day that passed that a smiling face didn’t tell me that I was loved. It was incredibly humbling to be honored and given so much by a people who have so very little. Even more humbling, was that despite all my fears and doubts, God was able to use to me. Love absolutely conquerors all.
I continue to be overcome with thankfulness to God and to my friends* for an opportunity to experience what God is doing in and through Home of Hope. My heart has been awakened with a greater and deeper love for a country in desperate need of Jesus and 110 children who represent a generation that will build His Kingdom and bring hope to Bangladesh. As for me, I know that God is calling me to be a woman of action. Sympathy is not an acceptable substitute. I pray that the cry of Christ’s church and the cry of my heart would always be, “here am I, God; in whatever way, however you choose...send me!”
-Holli Shipley (recent visitor to Home of Hope)
*The friends referred to in this article are Rick & Elaine Pardee, project directors at the Home of Hope.