UARTKNOWN

Karen lives so far from my arms,

In a country, that's worn and torn and ravaged by bombs.

I think about her every day,

For in that little girl's world, death is the price that's often paid.

But when I think of her...  Le Dieu Sourire

And when I hold her in my thoughts... Le Dieu Sourire

And when I know she's made it through another rainy day,

I know that God Smiled,  today.

I've never held her in my arms,

I've never wiped her tears, never felt her beating heart.

She barely knows the man I am,

Just a stranger in a stranger place, in a crowded world I'm the unknown face.

But when I think of her..  Le Dieu Sourire.

And when I hold her in my thoughts... Le Dieu Sourire

And when I know she's made it through another rainy day,

I know that God Smiled,  today.

A child of fate,

How easily she could have been born in this place.

But who am I,

To out-guess the Creator of all man, the world is in His hand,

He takes beating hearts from all the distant lands,

and molds them into His eternal plans.

So when I think of her..  Le Dieu Sourire.

And when I hold her in my thoughts... Le Dieu Sourire

And when I know she's made it through another rainy day,

I know that God Smiled, I know that God Smiled,

yes my God He Smiled,

Today.

            Karen became my Compassion childe when she was 10 years old. She was born and lived in Honduras when there was much fighting and unrest in her country as well as neighboring countries of Guatemala, Nicaragua and San Salvador. I was privileged to become her sponsor and I was hopeful that I would be able to sponsor her until she was an adult and maybe one day to be able to meet her in person.

             Ten months after I began sponsoring her, I received a letter from Compassion informing me that Karen had died. She had been killed when the bus she was traveling in was swept over the side of a mountain by a mudslide. Why did God allow that to happen? Perhaps for the first time in her life she had a chance to have regular food, new clothes, to be educated and to learn about God. I do not know if she was a Christian, but even if she was, why would God allow her to be taken so young? It seemed that God had stopped smiling.

            It is in those times, that our faith is tested and challenged, and yet at the end of our wrestlings, we know that God is good. And it is in these times that "Faith" becomes the placeholder for all that we do not understand now, but we will, when we see Him face to face.

U.Art.Known