The Mercedes Nobody Wanted

​It wasn’t because it was old, irreparable, broken, or worthless.  In fact, it wasn’t even a car.
 
No.  The Mercedes I’m thinking of was a girl.  And this is her story.

Though I’ve never met her, I heard her story.  And although I don’t have a face to connect with the name, her story is real and one worth sharing.
 
Mercedes was born to a broken, sin burdened family in California.  In fact her family was so broken that social services deemed her parents unfit to raise her and her siblings.  So off they went to be bounced around the foster care system. 
 
By the time Mercedes was eight she had already been through multiple homes and was in need of emergency placement.  Her anger, hurt, and brokenness was so great that she deeply buried it underneath a shield of hatred and resentment, and lashed out at everyone who tried to help her.  Her screaming, fits of rage, and name-calling discouraged all grace and kindness extended to her and caused those trying to help her to say, “Enough!”  Even Christian foster parents with the patience and long suffering of Job were done after just three days.
 
Finally, things came to a head and Mercedes had run out of options.  Her anger and hatred had burned every bridge and expired all the options.  So the last resort was a group home.  Thus at the tender age of eight, Mercedes was headed to the end of the line.  At this point, her future looks rather bleak and hopeless with no one to save her or even care.  According to statistics, drugs, teen pregnancy, perpetuation of family dysfunction, and utter brokenness will be her future.  She will fade into the darkness of obscurity and be forgotten.  

However, there is One who sees this Mercedes that nobody wanted and cares about, One who wants to save and rescue her from her brokenness.  He is the Father to the fatherless, the Defender of orphans, and Hope to the hopeless.  He is the Lord Almighty.  In His eyes, Mercedes is far more valuable than the fancy sports car.  And He is the only One who can break through her walls of hatred, anger, and bitterness and heal the wounded, hurting girl inside. 
 
While God is the only One who can do this saving work, He invites us to join Him through prayer, advocacy, and action.  We may not be able to parent Mercedes and provide a loving, safe home for her, but we can pray for her and be aware of her plight.  Though she may become forgotten by the world, we can still see her and know her story.  And this is the first step.
 
But Mercedes is not the only one with this story.  There are countless Mercedes out there, boys and girls who have been forsaken, injured, broken, and forgotten by the world and are in desperate need to be rescued.  They can be found throughout the world and even in our own backyards. 
 
So the question for us is, do we SEE them? 
 
Before we help the plight of the orphan, we must first be able to see and recognize them from the throng of people surrounding us.  While this is easy to do in third world and developing countries, it is much harder on the home front.  In the United States, orphaned, broken children surround us and we don’t see them.  So the next time you pass a troubled teen with a face full of body piercings, take a closer look and see inside her eyes.  Remove the blinders of judgmentalism and self-righteousness and take the time to actually see these children and troubled youth for what they really are—broken, hurting, and wounded souls in desperate need of healing—and remember the Father’s heart for these lost individuals. 
 
So will you take this first step in offering pure and undefiled religion and worship to God?  Will you look past the outward markings of a person and take the time to look deep into their soul?  Will you take the time to actually see the ones only God has eyes for?  How many unwanted Mercedes can you find along your life’s journey?

“But you [God] do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.”
~Psalm 10:14