Nelson and his family: It is almost impossible to believe where they come from and what they have been through. Life has been no better for his wife. Sometimes we have hard questions for God, and sometimes He answers them in a hard way.

I have two little girls in my church in Los Guido, Costa Rica. They are beautiful children, the kind that are easy to love. Their clothes usually don’t fit, and they are not always clean, but they are beautiful because of their ability to shine through the oppression of their lives. They run to me every time they see me and hug me with a ferocious hug and call me Papi, something I consider a great privilege. Many times they ask me why they can’t be my little girls. I always say, “Because God has you right where he wants you. Jesus loves you, and He is with you no matter were you are.”

I know that God has a handle on the big picture and a perfect plan for every thing. But when I learned of the sexual abuse these two children endured from a grandfather and uncles, I had some questions for God. Why? Is it not bad enough that they are hungry and poor? Why this too, God? How can these children grow up to be anything?

That’s when God introduced me to Nelson Jiron. A 29-year-old young man that I am not worthy to share the same room with. When I met Nelson, I had these visions of how hard his mother and grandmother must have worked to raise this fine young man, how they must have sacrificed for him and loved him. As I saw him bring homeless children to the Lord and pray and weep over them and handle them with such love and affection, I thought how proud his mother must be of him. So I asked him about his life and family. That’s when God showed me that he paints the big picture and that His ways are not mine.

Nelson was conceived from an act of violence perpetrated on his mother. The man that did this was never punished. Nelson was a constant reminder to his mother and grandmother of this violent act. His mother and grandmother abused him physically. But worse, was the emotional abuse.

When Nelson was eight years old, he was sent to the streets to sell souvenirs to the tourists. He thought that this work would make them love him. When he returned home, they beat him and told him that he was not doing enough. When he finally asked them why he was not loved, they told him how he was conceived and that they never wanted him and certainly would never love him. From there, life got worse; his mother left him, and his grandmother was going to have him killed. Drugs, alcohol, and violence became his world. He married, had two children, and started the cycle again.

One day someone asked him to come to church as he was heading to the bar. He opened his mouth to say no and heard himself say yes. At church that night Nelson found a love that saved him. God gave him what he wanted more than anything else, a heart filled with love. He has a family now that knows that love and sees him live it out every day. His mother and grandmother see it. He has no bitterness in him. He radiates a love and a hope from a heart that could only have been touched by the Master. He works with a hard people bringing them that same love through Christ. He can reach these people only because of where he came from.

These two girls that call me Papi have lived in hell. But I tell you God has a plan to use them, to restore them, and to give them the love they desire. He will raise them up and place a new heart in them just like he did Nelson. They will one day soon find their people, the people that only they can reach because of where they come from.

This life can be mighty hard, but God is painting the big picture. His ways are not ours. Where were we when He marked the line of the seashores and told the waters this is where you stop?