Sharing God’s Love in Hungary
By: Zsuzsa Mecséri-McNamara
Set Free Movement CoordinatorNo matter where we come from, no matter where we live, we all have a desire to love and to be loved. This is absolutely true about the children that we minister to in Hungary. Traffickers try to use this desire for love and belonging against them and attempt to trick and coerce them into dangerous situations. We seek to counter these efforts and share the love of God with each child.
During a recent visit to the children’s home our team serves at, I was talking with the teenagers and the topic of love came up. “What is true love like, how do we know if we have found the love of our lives?” the girls asked me.
These are difficult questions to answer! So, I shared 1 John 4:19 with them: “We love because he first loved us.” I went on to share my own experience, we can only love ourselves and others around us if we know the depth of God’s love for us. A quiet girl then exclaimed “I have always felt like someone was with me in my troubles. I have always felt like I was loved by someone. Now I know it’s God.” Another girl joined and said that even though her family has hurt her so many times, she has the ability to love and forgive them and she believes this a true gift from God.
God’s love can truly heal the deepest of wounds! At the end of our discussion, I told them that they gave a perfect response to their own question because true love is God’s presence and God’s forgiveness. We all need to experience this first true love, that casts out all fear from our lives. Let us join together and share this healing love in our churches, communities, and with the most vulnerable groups.
In Hungary, Zsuzsa and her team are preventing the exploitation of at-risk children, ethnic minorities, and the unemployed. The team is supporting children at a Hungarian children’s home and a safe home through English lessons, Bible studies, mentoring, games and crafts and works to establish a safe, trusting space where youth can find belonging instead of turning to a pimp or gang. Learn more about how we are creating new futures and protecting the vulnerable in Hungary here.