A Blanket for the Brokenhearted

Ioften find myself thinking about the great depths of power and mercy that infinitely and simultaneously dwell within our Savior Jesus Christ. 

David reflects in Psalm 8 by asking, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

You caught that, right? The Creator of the cosmos, the King of all Kings, the One who “is before all things, and in him all things hold together,” He cares for us. For you. For me.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Our God is mindful and caring in many ways and the special email I received from Tim and Caroline Bailey this weekend was overwhelming proof.

The Bailey’s are actually the newest Orphanos partners as of last month (welcome to our family!) and they’re serving in Romania. If you’re rusty on your world geography, the current conflict in Ukraine has thrown Tim and Caroline into a unique position as the two countries border one another.

So while part of their current efforts include calls and meetings with other ministry leaders across Europe, it also means loving those immediately around them.

When the Bailey’s good friends started hosting a mom and her three daughters who had been woken up by the first bombs in Kyiv on February 24 at 5 AM, Tim and Caroline began helping them get the things they needed. They quickly found out that not only did the the mom’s husband and girls’ father stay back, but in the rush of fleeing, one of the girls left her special blanket. The missing blanket had been a nightly source of sorrow and tears for the four-year-old girl whose life had quickly been flipped upside down.

Caroline put it well in the family’s latest update,

“But our God sees the little ones and He promises to bind up the broken hearted. He is the God of miracles.”

The girl’s father learned of the left behind blanket and bravely risked his well being by dropping it at the Bailey’s missions base in western Ukraine. Tim and Caroline were able to take it from there, connecting different people in different places to ensure this comfort blanket made it to a small girl who was craving a symbol of life before the war forced her away from home.

Being reunited with her blanket was nothing short of perfection.

“Needless to say, the delivery was first met with shock and then 30 minutes of squealing, giggling, rolling around and snuggling her blanket. She buried herself in it. It was perfect. I’m sure it was everything her dad hoped it would be.”

I grieve knowing this is one of many heartbreaking stories being lived in Europe right now. Nations are raging and people are plotting.

But when I think about a God who is mindful to the extent of securing a blanket for a four-year-old girl who will never be the same again, it leads me to praise Him. I hope it does you too.

Join me in praying for this family, the Baileys and for the current conflict to cease.

Grace and Peace,

Wayne Sneed