“...AND MY DAUGHTERS FROM THE ENDS OF THE EARTH” - A MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATION: Devotional by Lorilyn Roberts

I gazed through the broken window admiring the grandeur of the Himalayan Mountains twenty miles west of China. I felt like I was starring in a movie as I sat nervously waiting in the dusty, dingy office of the Chief District Officer of Dolakha, Nepal. The room was mostly dark, lit with only one uncovered light bulb. Old wooden chairs lined the bare walls and scraped the concrete floor. A dark-haired, three-year-old little girl named Manisha sat beside me.

The C.D.O., a man in his early 30's, sat at an oversized desk with my papers before him. Wielding incredible power over my future, I needed his approval to adopt Manisha. It was hard for me to fathom how I had put myself into this situation, except that I knew God was leading me. My thoughts flashed momentarily back to my failed marriage of eight years.

“I don't love you anymore,” my husband told me one night after I confronted him with evidence that he was seeing another woman.

I replayed scenes of the long hours I worked as a court reporter putting him through medical school. I remembered the wine bottles and cheese that I uncovered in the garbage upon returning home after visiting my family in Atlanta. I recalled the night he contacted the police after I confronted him in his office at the hospital. Two weeks after our divorce was final, the other woman gave birth to his child. I was devastated and hurt. Only a loving God could help me to start over and begin a new life.

A few years after my divorce, I received a letter from World Vision, an evangelical organization that sponsors children in Third World countries. The beginning of the letter, dated February 13, 1993, read: "Over 150 million children worldwide are trapped by hunger, sickness, poverty, and neglect." I took the letter and put it on my refrigerator and thought, someday I am going to adopt a child from another country. The letter ended with a quote from Proverbs 13:12 (LB), "Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when dreams come true at last, there is life and joy."

Now, eight years later, after much forgiveness, prayer, and healing, God lead me to Nepal. I looked at Manisha, and with piercing, dark brown eyes focused on me, she spoke softly in very clear English, “I love you.”

I responded back, “I love you, too.”


I did not know how she could have uttered those words because she could not speak English. It gave me the assurance I needed over the next few days that God was in control. The C.D.O. poured over my documents and after a while looked up and asked, “You're not 40?”


“No,” I said, “but I'm almost 40.”


“It's the law you must be 40.” He gave a cursory glance through the rest of my documents. He and Silas, my facilitator, exchanged a flurry of words in Nepali. Some elderly Nepali men sitting in the room stared at me. I had the feeling that Silas was talking about my infertility. I felt exposed that such personal information was being bantered about. I saw worry in Silas's eyes and knew my hopes of becoming a mother were precariously in limbo.


“We can go back to Kathmandu and try to get special permission from the Home Minister for you to adopt, but there is nothing more we can do here.”

I pondered in my heart what Manisha said to me, “I love you.” I had to trust God.

The next morning I heard a knock at my hotel door. I opened it and there was Manisha. She looked beautiful in her new pink dress and checkered blue top, smiling and laughing. My heart was full of both worry and hope.


Before we left the hotel to meet with the Home Minister, I called my Mom and asked for prayer. Isaiah 43:5-6* came to mind, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east...and my daughters from the ends of the earth.”


“O, Dear God,” I prayed,  “Please let this be Your will. Manisha needs a forever family, hope, and You.”


The sun shone brightly and it was a beautiful day as we arrived at the courthouse.


“They don't like me at the legal office,” said Silas, “because I refuse to give them money. In America, it's called bribery, but in Nepal, it happens all the time.”

Nobody wanted to help us. Silas spoke in Nepali to a male secretary and he motioned us into another room. An errand boy, after an extended discussion with Silas, went into the Home Minister's office. We waited for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he reappeared speaking in Nepali to Silas.


Silas breathed a sigh of relief and anticipation.

“The Home Minister has granted his permission for you to adopt Manisha.”

My eyes filled with tears as I remembered Manisha's softly-spoken words in the Himalayan Mountains, “I love you.” It was as if God had said to me, “I love you.”


Yes, Manisha, I love you, too.

Just as God loved us so much that He gave us His Son and adopted us into His family, God had given me the first of two daughters to love from the ends of the earth.


*NIV Translation

The full story can be read in Children of Dreams, available at Amazon and other bookstores. The medical mystery uncovered in the book was featured in Animal Planet’s “Monsters Inside Me,” Episode 210, “Shape Shifters.”
You can watch the episode by clicking on this link.


Manisha arrived home on Mother's Day, May 8, 1994. I dedicate this story to all mothers for Mother's Day!

http://lorilynroberts.com/

LORILYN ROBERTS BOOK REVIEW: “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen

 

 

 

 

          What makes Pride and Prejudice work? Why is it a classic? Why would anyone want to read this book today, almost two hundred years after it was written – in almost archaic English? I was glad I read it on my Kindle so I could use the dictionary function to enlighten myself on unfamiliar words.

          I was impressed with one quality about this book which I have seen in only a few other books I have read:  I felt like I “knew” the main character intimately, as well as several of the supporting cast. Ms. Austen’s ability to develop unique characters was impressive, and there were quite a few, though each one was entertainingly different.

As the plot progressed, Ms. Austen used the story to enable a gradual change and maturity in the protagonist, Elizabeth. The antagonist, Mr. Darcy, did a complete turnabout in nature, which was unexpected, leading to a surprise ending. Almost all of the characters evolved, and those who didn’t—i.e., the mother, the youngest daughter who eloped—their inability to change was part of their flawed nature. Their failures created tension and added flavor to the plot. I have seen many of the personalities in Pride and Prejudice in my own life. I could relate to the dysfunctional mother, the submissive father, the complacent Mary, the beautiful Jane, the prideful Lady Catherine, the prejudicial sisters, and the nosy neighbors that gossiped—and still care about them anyway. 

What makes a great book? A key ingredient is creating characters we will remember long after the book is finished—people we love and villains we hate. Perhaps it’s a protagonist who stands for something beyond the pages of the book; or noble characters who demand an audience, representing archetypes within ourselves and others. Perhaps we meet someone in a story we wish to emulate. We become that hero or heroine, or worse yet, even the bad guy we despise. We fall in love and out of love, but we are never the same having met the unique characters within the pages of a great classic.

Books I would compare Pride and Prejudice to that have characters like that are The Exodus, Gone With the Wind, and Great Expectations. I remember those books like I read them yesterday, and two of them I read over thirty-five years ago

I saw much of myself in Elizabeth—outspoken, determined, moral, and loyal. In the end, she and the protagonist married, and each overcame significant flaws to make that possible. I couldn’t be sure until the end that it would happen. There was nothing wasted; every scene followed a natural progression, leading to the next event.

I will think about this book for a while, picking apart different aspects of the characters and story as I work out how to write my own fiction. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to study the art of character in a fictional book.

 

To Order Pride and Prejudice from Amazon, click here