“Thou
shall no longer be termed forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah. . .”—Isaiah 62:4 NKJ
Some families come together naturally in the course of
time or planning, but other families are fitted to one another by God with
great care--like puzzle pieces. Only He can find all the missing pieces and put
them together.
As President and CEO of a national company, Christina
worked out of an office in her spacious home. To the casual observer, she was a
successful businesswoman who enjoyed a privileged life. There was one thing
missing however--children. Two failed marriages had produced none. “I had this
understanding with God, that if He wanted me to have children, He would have
given them to me.” She shrugged, “I guessed God had other plans.”
Due to her busy work schedule, Christine
decided to hire a housekeeper to clean and cook lunch and dinner for her. Soon
after the housekeeper started however, she began to bring along her 4-year-old
niece, Hephzibah Sarah. Christine didn’t mind. The little girl seemed quiet
enough. But her aunt was an “old-school” disciplinarian who believed that
children should be seen and not heard. Christine noticed that the aunt would make
the little girl sit in a chair all day, still and quiet, as if she blended in
with the furniture.
One day, as soon as her aunt’s car pulled out of the
driveway for a trip to the grocery store, the little girl hopped out of her
chair and ran into Christine’s office to ask for food. The pattern continued
over time. Whenever her aunt left to do errands, the tiny girl would scramble
from her chair to ask for something to eat. In a meek little voice, she asked
for a strawberry or a few grapes and Christine would take her into the kitchen
to feed and spend time with her. The minute she heard her aunt’s car in the
driveway though, she would scurry right back to her chair.
Curious as to why her housekeeper, a mother
with a grown son and two grandchildren of her own, would take on the
responsibility of caring for her niece, Christine discovered that Sarah had
come to her out of desperate circumstances. The youngest of nine children,
“Hephzibah Sarah,” was born to a Christian family in the throes of poverty.
Their mother names all nine children from Biblical figures she admired.
Hephzibah Sarah, whom she named from Isaiah 62:4, was the youngest. The name,
“Hephzibah,” translated from Hebrew means, “in whom is My delight.” With
the exception of Sarah and her brother, Paul, the rest of the children were
eighteen years old and above. Sarah and Paul were the youngest, and as it
turned out, the most vulnerable.
When Sarah was almost 2-1/2 years old, and her
brother Paul 5-1/2, their mother died suddenly, and their father found it
difficult to take on the responsibilities of caring for two young children. The
family barely scraped by financially, and then only by pooling their money with
each other to share a ramshackle place, often relying on help from their
church. When their father went to work every day, he left Sarah and Paul in the
care of the older girls. The young caretakers were immature and ill prepared
for such responsibilities and took care of the children in a haphazard way.
Sarah wandered the house each day, eyes sunken,
hair unkempt, nearly skin and bones. Her belly was bloated, a telltale sign of
malnutrition. Most of the time, she went without underwear or even a tee shirt
to cover her. Her older brother fared somewhat better because he had learned to
fend for himself, but he too was struggling.Realizing that Sarah urgently needed help,
their father turned to his sister, who though reluctant at first, agreed to
take care of her.
“She was stressed out in a lot of ways,” said
Christine. The aunt was caring for her brother, who was very ill, as well as an
older, mentally handicapped niece and her two children. It was hard for her to
be patient with a young child, but she tried and she made sure that Sarah was
clean, well-groomed and dressed.”
After a few days, Christine decided to ask her
housekeeper to begin serving her lunch out on the cabana by the pool. She
casually asked if Sarah could join her. The aunt agreed. “We began to share
wonderful times together, singing and laughing.” Christine discovered that no
one had ever read to Sarah, so she began to read her story after story. She
eventually bought her a jump rope, Barbie dolls and other toys to play with.
From the beginning, Christine had noticed a
whitish ring around Sarah’s mouth, but now felt bold enough to ask if she could
bring her to a pediatrician. “ The doctor knew what it was right away. He said
that the appearance of the ring around her mouth indicated a Vitamin D
deficiency, probably from lack of enough exposure to the sun.” Jarred by the diagnosis,
Christine said, “I suddenly realized that this child had never been outside of
the house to play.”
Worried that the child needed immediate care
and intervention, Christine asked Sarah’s aunt if she could be Sarah’s
“Godmother.” The aunt readily agreed, so she immediately enrolled her in a
pre-kindergarten daycare center. Later, Christine asked permission to enroll
Sarah in gymnastics and ballet classes. Once again, her aunt agreed. Since Sarah’s ballet classes were in
the evening, she was allowed to spend the night over Christine’s house. She
quietly changed her guest bedroom into a little girl’s room, complete with
comforter and dolls. Sarah loved it.
In her kitchen one day, Christine began to
think about her earlier understanding with God. “I had always said, If God
wanted me to have a child, He would have given me one. Suddenly, there was this
big, neon sign going off in my head. He
had given me one…and she was sitting right in from of me at my kitchen table!”
Her thoughts seemed to be confirmed one day
while driving, when Sarah spoke from her car seat in the back.
“I been thinking since I’ve been looking for a nice
mommy with a big house, that you
ought to be my mommy. That way,” she added, “you won’t have to be alone
anymore.”
Christine, overcome with emotion, had no more doubts. She
decided to visit Sarah and Paul’s father. “That August, I finally met him
face-to-face. He was a nice man who just seemed to be beaten down by the
world.”
He told her, “I promised their mother before she died that
I would do right by the little ones.
I can tell you’re a nice lady. Please take Sarah and don’t let her forget her
family.”
The man allowed Christine to adopt his daughter Hephzibah Sarah and he
allowed his son Paul to stay with a foster family for a while. However, Paul was happy to return when conditions improved at home.
“People tell Sarah how lucky she is to have found a
new mother like me,” said Christine, “but I disagree with that. I’m the lucky
one. I know that God has something special in mind for Sarah and I’m blessed to
be a part of her life.”
God heard the desire of a prayerful woman’s
heart to be a mother, and the desperate need of a lonely little girl for one.
Now they are a family, fitted together by God—a match truly made in Heaven.
