Hope and Hopelessness

It's amazing to see where I am now. I remember the news everywhere when the earthquake hit and the tsunamis followed. So much damage. It doesn't feel that long ago, when Risa lived with us and was awoken one early morning. I watched her as she tried over and over to get ahold of her family on Skype. The panic in her voice. "どうしお?" (What should I do?) no one to cry out to. No one to cling to. No Jesus to take you under his wing and give you comfort. Just panic. ((Her family lives in Tokyo so they were fine.)) so many people must have felt that. 「どうしお？どうしお？。」being completely hopeless. I'm in Tahoku, Japan now. It's a city that was hit by the tsunami. Everything destroyed. Much has been restored, but a lot is still damaged. The ground is still hard to grow on. Empty lots where homes once stood are still empty. Grass and weeds are growing where no one has touched them. So many lives lost. so many family's separated by death. Such pain, such fear, such hopelessness. My DTS group is cutting grass and pulling up weeds where a house once stood. It hasn't been touched sense the tsunami 2 years ago. I was put in charge of trash. Lots of trash has been cover under the dirt and bushes. I found lots of water bottles, flower bots, broken bowls, a latle, some headphones, a DVD case, study stuff like plastic rulers, then, I found a small green jump rope, and behind it fallowed a small dark blue child's jacket. It had a daycare emblem in the top corner. I dusted it off a bit and looked it over. Suddenly I was hit with a pain in my heart. My thoughts were filled with the children who were affected by this. It didn't help when I continued to pull more and more children's clothes out of the dirt. One by one I pulled them up and put them in the trash pile. I also came across small toy balls and a baby rattle. Holding back my tears was starting to be almost impossible. Then, God did his amazing love thing that he does. I turned around and looked across the lot. There, with a little baseball mitt, was a kid. A Japanese boy with a blue shirt. He had a huge smile on his face as he started playing with Josh, who's in our group. They ran around and played dragon ball and stuff. He laughed and played in the empty lot that I had been pulling children's clothes out of not just 2 minutes ago. My sadness was replaced with a joy and peace. There is still so much hope left. There are so many who are here. So many who still need Jesus! I was filled with praise and hope! Gods heart hurt so much when the tsunami hit these people. He loves them so much! He wants them to be with him! He has such amazing plans for Japan! He has given me that vision as well! When I was in China, God gave me a vision of a revival in Japan. My friend also received the same vision, in a different way. There is an amazingly strong army rising up! These people will be a huge part of Gods kingdom! These people are about to be so engulfed by the holy spirt that they will go out and spread that all over the world! There is power in the name of Jesus! To break every chain of this nation! Freedom for this country! Healing! Peace in their hearts and such freedom will come! I can't wait to witness the works of God in Japan! For God is big! And God is good!