When the news comes on and the atrocities of ISIS flash in front of you do you look away? Or do you think of playgrounds and charms refashioned from spent bullet casings? For Reload Love the answer isn’t found in looking away. The answer is found in running towards the fight.
Here in the comfort and protection of the U. S. it is easy to avert our gaze from the pain we find in the news. It is easy to close our eyes and declare that our hearts are to easily burdened by viewing suffering, suffering we are powerless to do anything about. It is too easy.
For Lenya Heitzig, founder of Reload Love, she chose to look. But not just look. Lenya asked God where and how she should respond.
She was surprised when the answer was to pray against the black flags of ISIS, to stand up for terrorized children, and to do both by building playgrounds.
The Ministry of Presence
Sitting with someone in their pain is not an easy thing. I have been on both the receiving end and giving end of the ministry of presence and both seats are painful.
There are times when all we need is for someone to just show up and hold our hand, to not avert their eyes from our story. That feeling is not unique. Rather to be seen and acknowledged is a universal need. One that we fail miserably at when we refuse to see the suffering of others on the other side of the world.
Our Calling Is Love
We often wrestle with our calling as Christians. How are we to live out our faith in the everyday? We sit and question whether we are doing it correctly. Sometimes we become paralyzed by doubt rather than simply getting up and loving our neighbors.
When God put Reload Love on Lenya Heitzig’s heart she did not shy away from the calling, she ran to it even though she had no idea what she was running to. She ran towards the opportunity to love children who were suffering. She poured out love so that they could escape, even if just for a moment, the terror of war that has come to define their lives.
Reload Love: Bullets and Playgrounds
It isn’t often you get to see the heartbeat of an organization. The book Reload Love is an origins story for a charm made from a spent bullet casing and transformed into a love story. It is about a journey into war torn countries to provide children with something as simple as a playground.
The story of Reload Love is one of hope. By offering calm, acknowledgment, and normalcy into the lives of women and children who have been terrorized by ISIS, Reload Love is offering hope.
Instead of war, love is offered. Instead of bullets swings, slides, and laughter are given to children. The charms that are refashioned from bullets are reminders to pray for these women and children and they are a daily reminder to not look away.
Lenya asks, “What can we do to give humanity back to the traumatized?” But even as she asks the question she’s already on the ground doing the work, making a positive impact on women and children in the Islamic culture by showing up and building playgrounds.
Disclosure: I was given a copy of Reload Love in exchange for an honest review (opinions expressed are my own).
