The Warriors

I'm wasting time watching television...

When an ASPCA commercial documenting dog fighting appears...

The organization's goal is to give these animals who have suffered, who have been traumatized, who have been neglected...

Shelter.

Medical care.

Nourishment.

Love.

They say these dogs have been trained to viciously survive through neglect, under abuse, via isolation...

To the point the animals no longer understand, recognize or can give healthy interaction, or engage in appropriate relationships.

And I'm reminded of the faces, one after another...

The first nights.

The doorbell rung again and again, introducing a new name, fresh hands to hold, hungry tummies to feed.

The raging night terrors, the warring souls, the haunted little bodies...

They've graced my doors from the closets of meth labs, the throws of kidnappings, from abandonment, starvation, and serving the self-gratification of those whom they were taught to trust.

But they all have had one thing in common...

They've come ready to fight.

Prepared to destroy in order to survive.

Willing to steal, manipulate, twist and barter...

To know they will be secure one more day.

The world tells them they should be so grateful to find shelter, food, care, love in our home.

But they know no other livelihood than a warrior...

Whether she be two or he be twenty.

Their rage, those instincts, have empowered them to live another day.

That is their strength. That is their need.

And this is the call of a foster mama, a foster papa...

Of the Covenant Body...

Not to enter into their battles for a day, a week, a month or even a year,

But for as long as the twisted path of healing requires,

As the warrior discovers he is worthy of rest...

She is deserving of peace...

They were designed to receive love and to give love,

Because they were grafted from the image of the One who longs for their hearts to abide in Him.

And that, my Friends, is a high calling.

So do not grow weary.

Because He is Worthy ~