You can see the sadness in his eyes. It bears down deep into his soul.
During our time at one of our church-based children’s homes in the Ivano-Frankivsk oblast (province) of Ukraine, Roman had his head downcast and didn’t interact with the other children around him. It was explained to us that he doesn’t talk, doesn’t play, doesn’t act like a normal child in search of fun and friendship.
For good reason…
Roman’s young eyes witnessed a tragic horror that no boy of any age should have to experience.
During a drunken argument between his parents, Roman’s mother grabbed a large carving knife and, in a frenzied rage, stabbed Roman’s father multiple times. Roman and his two sisters watched their father crumple to the ground as blood spewed out of his punctured and torn body. He bled to death right in front of their frightened, tear-filled eyes.
Roman’s mother is now in prison, her parental rights and freedom permanently terminated. She didn’t just murder her husband on that sad day. She murdered her family. She murdered her kids’ sense of security and identity. Both of their parents were ripped away from them on that day. They were orphaned in a single, angry, blood-stained moment.
But the Church is there to help Roman and his sisters. It is there to ‘bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted’ and to ‘care for the orphan in distress.’
Roman’s new home is in the same building as the church that meets there, each sharing one end of the common structure. Both figuratively and literally, the home and church are one. Roman has found care in the house of the Lord, through the love of the Lord’s people.
It will take time. Such trauma and loss isn’t overcome easily. But only the Church has the power, the love, the motivation, and the resolve to see it through and to see deep healing and transformation occur. Only the church can take a broken little boy like Roman and turn him into a hopeful young man who realizes his divine purpose. Only the church can turn his tragic experience into a tool and means for giving God glory.
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You can help children like Roman by getting involved in our Home for the Holidays campaign or starting an online fundraising campaign.