My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

Where is He?

I have a friend who was suffering this morning. Knowing she was in pain, as I prayed for her, I texted her this verse:

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in Spirit. Psalm 34:18


It was only minutes later that I heard the news and began to realize the great number of broken hearts today.

Where is He? How do I reconcile this to my children?

He is near. 

We’ve read everyday this month of His love story, of broken people who need a rescuer and the rescuer who gives everything to draw us near. That’s what advent is–His coming near. And, that is what we must cling to.

Evan, Ashlyn, Drew, and Lydia, I want you to know this.

No, this isn’t what God wanted for His children. This was not His design. I don’t understand why this happened. We don’t get it. You may hear things at school next week about what happened today. You may hear stories from other kids. Some may try to joke about it just because they don’t know what else to say about it. And, that’s not okay. Because this is really bad, and there are many many people with broken hearts right now because of what happened today. It’s bad, and our world is so broken that it makes our chests hurt. The depth of sin is so deep. And, our need for a savior is nothing short of urgent.

Know He is near.

Know He is so sad.

And, know He somehow brings peace where there is chaos in His timing. I don’t know how. We can’t imagine it sometimes. But, He somehow does it because He loves us with a never ending love that is way bigger than we can ever even imagine, deeper than the biggest ocean, bigger than the biggest mountain.

He is near to the brokenhearted. He could be nowhere else. He’s all about broken hearts.

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Made in China {a new perspective}

He was a quarter at a yard sale. I thought he was cute–soft suede-like material and a retro look about him. He fit perfectly in the girls’ room that has a bit of a vintage feel to it. So, there he sits upon a stack of antique books on Ashlyn’s dresser, presiding over a Lego mini figure, a wind-up toy, and other plastic things that have been sitting collecting dust. While we’ve cleaned out a half dozen times since this guy came home, he’s consistently made the cut. Just something about him that we all took a liking to.

The same photographer, Michael Wolf, who took the 100×100 pictures I shared 9 months ago produced another project called The Real Toy Story. When I clicked on the link, the first picture I saw was this one.

There he was. The dog sitting upon her dresser that we’ve never even named. There he was in the hands of young women who have performed one step in his construction, perhaps attaching thousands upon thousands of fluffy yellow hats.

And, there were more pictures, all from 5 toy factories in China where 75% of the world’s toys are made.

Where migrant workers travel far from home to pursue a better life for themselves. Some are very young, quitting school to make money. Some have children they leave behind with grandparents. Each one, working hard, oftentimes 6 or 7 days a week from 8 in the morning until 10 at night, for about $240 a month including overtime hours.

Where they live in dorms there at the factories with 10-15 people in a room, oftentimes 50 people to one bathroom, a bathroom where running water is shut off at night to save money.
They are not faceless pawns in globalization there simply to satisfy our wants. Each one of these workers is independent and ambitious, hopeful and driven. Each one of the 130 million migrant workers in China has a story, one that we somehow get entangled in through little red sueded dogs.

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