A few weeks ago, I had the chance to talk with a New Life Center resident named AhBah. I had visited with her often before; she’s learning the guitar, and we sometimes sing together. But I never really had the chance to talk one on one with her until recently. AhBah is now 20 years old. She told me that she did not speak a word of Thai, nor had she ever been to school, until she moved to the New Life Center. As we continued talking together, I asked her about her family. She paused for a few minutes, and then huge tears began to roll down her cheeks.

She told me that both her parents died when she was an infant, and she had been left in the care of an older sister who was drug addicted. She goes back to her sister’s village occasionally, but finds it very painful—her sister’s drug addicted husband has taken on two more wives, and is abusive to all of them.

As I sat there looking into the face and tears of this beautiful young woman, my heart felt heavy with compassion for her. At the same time, I realized more fully that this is truly what the program of the New Life Center is all about; not just providing an education and home for girls at risk, but stepping in and becoming a family for those who are orphans, and embracing those broken ones whom our Lord indeed loves so deeply.