What I Learned About Myself Through a Boy Named “Trouble”

Adventure. Community. Life Change.

That's what Danielle Alig of our Swaziland Passport team experienced this summer. She signed up for Swaziland with a desire to love on orphans–underdogs. Much to her surprise, she not only encountered them but realized through one little boy that she too was an underdog in desperate need of a Savior. Here is her story.

My heart fights for the underdog and against the big bad bully.

My heart aches for the ones who are picked on or are generally ignored.

Swaziland has hungry children everywhere you look. Throughout the country, we found programs committed to feeding children daily on plots of land they call “carepoints.”

But the carepoint next to the dump was different than any other carepoint we went to. Upon arriving, I felt a continued air of sexuality and inappropriateness over the young children. The little boys were winking at us, giving looks that gave me chills, and saying inappropriate things.

One boy in particular seemed to be the ring leader. He was always hitting and pushing all of the other children. I instantly named him "Trouble.”

Then one day, I felt a pull toward Trouble.

I felt the need to pray over him and ask God to remove the darkness around him. I prayed for his protection at home and that he’d be given freedom to be the five-year-old that he was rather than the grown up he was trying to be.

When I first sat down in the dirt, three children crawled into my lap. Trouble was inconveniently climbing on my back. He eventually found his way into my lap and laid down. I was shocked looking down at this little boy and finally seeing a child and not the grown man he tried to be.

Over the course of the day, we laughed, took a ton of pictures, and became best friends. I fell in love with this boy.

"Trouble" was finally being a child, a beautiful five-year-old-boy. He simply loved on me and I felt a bond between us that was only of the Lord.

He wasn't being mean…he was just enjoying his afternoon playing with this weird white girl.

I could not control my smile and neither could he.

The Lord truly changed my heart for this boy. He showed me that this little boy is the underdog just as much as he is the bully. He needs love just as much as anyone else. He showed me HIS love for me.

As I walked away from the carepoint that day, I heard the Lord whisper "this is how I feel about YOU."

I was once the "Trouble" child.

I once lived my life as the bully. I lived as far away from the Lord as physically possible. Forcing away any sort of love others were trying to pour into my life.

The Lord simply took the time to love me. He made me feel his love and gave me his full attention and saved me from the bully I was to the woman he designed me to be.

I loved this boy for one day, fell in love with him, and was able to see the Lord through him. I cannot even fathom how the Lord loves me and has seen me through all of the rebellion I have chosen.

As little “Trouble” cuddled up in my lap, all I could see was myself curled up in the Father’s lap. There’s no place I’d rather be.

Danielle experienced the Lord in a way she never fathomed. The Lord used something that seemed so small to get her attention in a big way.

Does this spark something that you would like to experience, too? Check out our Passport trips here.