Featured Story

A Servant's Heart
Emilio Padilla shares how God prepared him, over the years, for his current work at the Children's Home in Nicaragua
March 2003

Written by Emilio Padilla, Director of the Arms of Love Children's Home in Managua, Nicaragua.  

God's plans, God's timing, God's interaction with us and through us … We are called to serve one another, to be His effective instruments, His healing hand, His arms outstretched until it hurts toward the humble, the meek, the destitute, the defenseless, the hurting and the abused of this increasingly calloused world.

These have been the thoughts … the feelings … the words, filtering through the noise of the business of the day, another exercise in tolerance, patience, and understanding of other people's weaknesses, replacing quarreling and confrontation with the wisdom and understanding of God's ways in dealing with us, the children he loved unto death and resurrection.

Several weeks have passed since I was asked to write about the experiences and changes we have been experiencing since my wife and I took over the supervision of this wonderful project of God, called the "Arms Of Love Children's Home" in my native country, Nicaragua. At first, I had great difficulty sorting out my thoughts and summarizing them in a way that others would understand, but over time, some clear statements came to the surface of my thoughts and emotions.

What are we engaged in? In a laudable work environment? In a socially sensitive supportive action? In an effort to help the abused children of our nation? In a Christian oriented project? In serving God? In being spiritually sensitive to the needs of others? In fulfilling the call to do meaningful things? To collect nuggets of spiritual gold and distribute them among those who are seeking treasures of this world but inevitably them to be fake and useless?

We found out that we have been doing all of this and more, always loving, training, and leading our children to a better future, based in their trust in the reality of a loving Father God, that shows himself in the reality of us, their human substitute parents.

It has been a wonderful team effort. Here and abroad. Sponsors, caregivers and children, all together. And new Christian friends popping up all around us, like the first green leaves that I watched in awe the first morning after the snowy winter so many years ago, while a student at the financial school in Indianapolis.

After all the cold, all the artificial heat of the Army barracks, all the little discomforting events of a long winter, there it came: the spruces of new life, of new hope, of new changes for the good and the better. And this is what we have been seeing after the first months of our working at the project we are going to talk to you about.

God has a unique sense of humor, flexibility, understanding and timing. While I was trying to organize my thoughts, I was also trying to reorganize the office, to select the personal books that we want to put at the disposal of our children and visitors. I was so busy that for some hours I did not pay attention to my hard cover, half-page red notebook that has been my faithful companion and keeper of my important thoughts and events that I have come through since 1988, when I became a missionary with YWAM.

But God wanted me to go back to what I used to say is the basics of our Christian life. Back to those little steps in our perennial request to just walk every day a little closer to Him. And this is what I want to share with you before I summarize the changes and developments in our children: If we decide to serve the Lord, He will shape us better than the most skilled diamond cutter could shape the most wonderful diamond of this world.

My little red notebook has on its cover a dear print that says "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." And here we are, my wife and I, and two of my grown sons, who come and help me from time to time, and two of my grandchildren who come on weekends to share their love with our new grandchildren, the children of our new home.

In June 1988, we had a terrible accident in the US, a face-to-face encounter with a potential death, a wonderful healing of my wife's fractured hand, and a miraculous protection of the same sons who are now coming to help us. The Lord gave me, through the gift of Job 23:21-30, the coming path of my future service as a Christian, out of the Living Bible version of the Word of God.

Then on September 28, 1990, at the Trinity Church in Houston, a word was given to me that my call would be to open the doors from the inside and work among my own people. Now here I am, in my native country 23 years later, after I had decided never to come back to it. And they gave me Job 5:17-27 out of the same version.

Then on October 11, 1991, at a meeting of the Full Gospel Businessmen, at the Dorado Hotel in Guatemala, after giving my testimony, one of my former political friends rose up and said to the audience: It's time that we all begin restoring what we have corrupted. Now here we are, trying to restore the children who are victims of abuse and abandonment by those who were biologically called to love and protect them.

Then on November 11, 1991 - what an outpouring of guiding light for the future - while on a YWAM leaders retreat, we were told in relation to temporal values how we should be submitted to the eternal values: "It's not to deny your natural gifts in order to have Christian spiritual ones, but to submit the natural gifts to the Spirit in us, in order to regenerate and purify and strengthen and upgrade them for the service and the glory of God, as His witnesses before this world." Now here we are trying to make our children at the children's home realize that they are beloved children of God and that He has endowed them with natural and spiritual gifts that will shine in the future, for their inner peace and the service of their future biological families and brethren.

And a year later, on November 18, 1992, Dean Sherman, while teaching what spiritual warfare is, explained Ephesians 6:10 to us as "the need to reaffirm the priority and necessity of functioning in the spiritual world." And we have had to engage in a lot of spiritual warfare, imploring the mercy of God and His uplifting hand over us and our children.

And we have seen His Mercy and His uplifting Hand! Let me tell you. Words are not enough to express it, but it has been shown in our children's behavior:

In Dalila, our oldest girl, who after much struggle and confrontation has started to change, and after saying that she would leave the children's home, now she has been promoted at her new school from fourth to sixth grade.

In Juanita, the second oldest girl, who after having a similar attitude as Dalila's, she was chosen to give the farewell words after graduating from sixth grade, and now she has been selected as the captain of the physical education team at her school.

In Marling, who has become more mature, as well as one of the best students in her class, now in the sixth grade as Dalila.

In Tania, who was adopted by a psychologist from the Ministry of the Family and is now safe and secure in a home of her own. The additional wonderful thing is that the same psychologist has been hired full-time by our project, and she is now doing a wonderful job, especially with the boys at the location in San Judas.

In Tatiana, who now has the sponsors that were sponsoring Tania, and who is improving so much in her attitudes, behavior and scholastic performance.

In our five second grade girls, who are often crying and complaining, but improving more every day, at their new school which is demanding more of them in their studies.

In the eight-year-old girl, who after being raped for more than a year by her biological father, who came to us afflicted by venereal diseases, but is now healed and well adapted, continually drawing pictures where she shows her love to my wife and I for loving and protecting her.

And to reserve the best for the last, as Jesus did at the wedding in Cana of Galilee ...

We hired a new houseparent couple who started to work with the boys in December, and we see now that:

Isael, who was once so passive, stubborn, and negative, often abusing the younger children, showing no gratitude at all, laughing at the adults, running away at will, now is changed, even if he relapses from time to time. He is improving and showing appreciation of the houseparents and the new psychologist, up to the point that he accompanies her when she leaves work to take the bus back home, so she will be protected from the vagrants in the neighborhood.

And Frank, who was so violent and bad mouthed, rebellious, irrespective of people, mocking, and dangerous to other children, is now behaving better and better.

And Marcos, his younger brother, who was once as violent as his older brother … last Christmas, at midnight, while I was leading the Christmas carols and folklore music that the girls were dancing, came to me, resting his head on my knee, giving me the dearest compliment I have had until now: "grandpa, you and grandma (my wife) are good people and love me" (abuelito, tu y la abuelita son buenos y me quieren).

And Lester, who could hardly spell words when he was mad, now the best behaved boy at our home in San Judas.

As you see, going back to the long introduction and the remembrances at the beginning of this letter, the Lord has been showing His Mercy and uplifting Hand, through you, who make possible the operation of the home; the staff, who so sacrificially endure the challenge of the children's behavior; and ourselves who, tired and faltering at times, try to serve Him by serving them with your support.

May the Lord of all love, care and protection, keep you under His wings, as His mercies are always new every morning.

Emilio.