Praying for the Light Unto Their Path

A busy day of trying to get things done yet trying to relax and breathe as well.

But I pause in my busy relaxing to ask you to please pray for a dear sister in Christ who is journeying tomorrow to Guatemala on behalf of World Help and Operation Baby Rescue. You can read all about it here.

Her name is Michele-Lyn and she blogs at A Life Surrendered. which is my new favorite blog. I am constantly more and more astounded by this beautiful woman - her testimony is not for the faint of heart and she writes and lives in such grace and honesty that it makes me want to summon myself and my other friends and have us all unite in following God's ways more obediently.

Michele-Lyn will be blogging as part of the team going to Guatemala for World Help and I hope you follow her stories there.

She leaves tomorrow and, as you can read on her latest blog entry, she is feeling all the normal heart-flurries one feels before they embark on a life-altering journey. I remember feeling very similar things before my trip to Honduras and, to be honest, she is going far deeper into the trenches of poor and sickness and fear and death than I ever tip-toed in.

So I ask you to lift Michele-Lyn and all the people journeying to Guatemala this week up in prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, so good and so loving,
We ask You to bless the efforts of the World Help volunteers, missionaries, and bloggers as they leave the safety of what they know to go and serve what we would call the very least of us: babies that need rescuing, adults and children that need comforting and the Good News that only You can bring.  I pray that You direct their footsteps according to Your Word (Ps 119:133) and uphold them in Your protection and righteousness. Though their hearts may break and grow weary from the sin and sadness in this world, make Your presence known to them so that they may feel hope and rely on Your provisions. You have us all in your mighty hand.  For You are a mighty savior and take delight in us with gladness. You calm our fears and rejoice over us with joyful songs (Zephaniah 3:17 NLT). We thank You and praise You for the work that will be done by these precious Christ-followers as You send them out. We pray this all in Jesus' holy and unfailing name. 
Amen.

Thank you, friends, for taking part in this prayer with me. My heart beats strongly for this mission. I'm not sure why. I don't question the passion I feel, though, I obey it. And though I want to drop everything I am doing here at home and join them, I know God wants me here, serving my family in this very specific way. So I must be content to pray fervently and unceasingly.

I encourage you to get to know Michele-Lyn over at her blog, A Life Surrendered as well as checking up on their experiences in Guatemala. 

Blessings as I leave you with this beautiful picture, taken from this website. 

American Awakened: Part Four - The Reach of God

Gaggle of girls

I squatted on the porch of the tiny rural Honduran school and snapped pictures of each child holding a sign displaying their name, age, height, weight, and school. A gaggle of girls huddled around me, fascinated by the live person wiggling around on my camera screen.

Their eyes were big and their smiles bigger. They giggled and played hand games - much like "Little Susie" in my day. They played like my kids. They laughed like my kids.
 

The hand game

They peeked in our bags for school supplies like my kids peek in our closet for presents. They wore curiosity on their faces in the same innocent way that my kids do. Some girls wore the same kind of hair bands as my girls. A few donned long silver earrings that wagged from side to side as they looked at us strange Americans.

Does your little girl wear these headbands, too?

From a distant glance, one would see a normal school - maybe similar to one in the United States - but this was not that.

This peaceful-looking boy most likely survived smallpox

A closer look would have you see a boy's face covered with concerning pock marks.

See right eye

A closer look would surprise you with an occlusion in a girl's eye, inescapable as she stared at you with wonder.










A closer look would reveal that this school - one room housing 28 students from preschool to eighth grade and that one teacher, a volunteer, chose to corral these 28 students in this tucked-away village to teach them mathematics, history, spelling - thevery same subjects my kids groan about studying in their school.

one-room school for grades Pre-K through 8

Those who have and those who lack can be obviously different yet astonishingly similar.
 

As I stood by the girl-flock, I carefully and a bit nervously placed my arm around the girl closest to me. I softly rubbed her back.

A mother rubbing a child's back in America can be similar to a mother rubbing her child's back in Honduras. The same God loves these children.

 
I have never before visited a country in need such as this. I have seen pictures on television, heard stories on the radio and in books, read newspaper articles such as this very real and serious one, but I was not prepared to see the disparity that existed there.

But what a paradox: to see all the lack and all of the abundance, all in the same child, in the same family, in the same community.

Volunteering with Paramedics for Children that day taught me just how far Christ's hand can reach. No mountain or sea can hold Him back. Not a brick house nor one made of tin.

What is your house made of?

.

 We were in Honduras for one week, but this one day opened my eyes to more than I've seen in a lifetime. Though I saw great poverty, I also saw how far God reaches and believe me; it is past anything we
could ever imagine.

American Awakened: Part Three - A Pause for Mess

I clicked a friend's link to a link to a link and came across this blog entry by Dan King, who is social media editor for thehighcalling.org, blogger at bibledude.net. co-founder and media director for the activistfaith.org movement, and social media director for help on now.

Mr. King writes about the Haitian mud left on his shoes from his time spent helping the local people with various needs.

I can't help but remember the shoes I wore while in Honduras. They became quite a mess. I waded up to my knees while dirty water soaked into them, creating that oh-so-unpleasant gushing feeling when walking. They were expensive and waterproof - yes, but only up to the laces. I did not intend on going caving. Or hiking upriver through water and rock.

But the boots did more than go on adventures. The boots walked down dusty, dirty roads and helped me kneel to take pictures for Paramedics for Children. The boots took me around Daniela's school. The boots gave me a solid foundation to stand on when my emotions quietly got the best of me and I felt like I was going to quake so much I might collapse.

I tossed those boots in the wash the first day I returned home. They made a huge clunkety-clunk that drove us mad, but I wanted that old-water, horrible, smelly smell out.

I read Mr. King's blog about his Haitian mud and now I want my Honduran dirt back.

Why did I want to wash it off? What was wrong with it?

Did it not fit in with my clean house? Was I afraid I would taint my hardwood floors? Get grime on my comforter?

I'm a very nostalgic person, always have been. I still have the box of candy a boy gave me in the 4th grade (the box, people, not the candy!). I am very nostalgic about things. I kept all my plane ticket stubs from my trip. I kept audio recordings of our guide talking. I think I might have taken a sugar packet home.

Yet I had to get rid of that dirt.

I am ashamed.

And yes, you can tell me not to be so hard on myself. But I need to be.

I am not beating my head with a hammer, but I am realizing that I could have taken a lot more away from my time in Honduras. I could have felt a lot less comfortable.

Ironically, it is now, back home, where I am feeling the most uncomfortable. I hear this is normal, that it makes sense.

Please, tell me how.

I'm back to my comfortable Americana; I'm back to writing Daniela letters, sending her pictures. I have a second sponsor child I write to as well: Selpia in Indonesia. It's been a year with her. We are just getting to know each other.

I wonder what her mess is like.

I wonder if it is as beautiful and as horrible as the things I saw in Honduras.

I wonder if, should I ever visit her in Indonesia, I will come home and slip off my worn and traveled shoes and opt for my plush couch...

or if I will scrape off some of that stuff and slip it into an envelope.

Terra firma of another world that I am called to love.

American Awakened: Part Two - In Abundance or In Need

Today is the last day before I return to work. Before I return to the real world life I lived before my trip to Honduras. Husband is at an appointment and was kind enough to drop the kids off at school. I sit here at my kitchen table that, now that I look at it, is quite fancy and nice. In fact, I've been doing a lot of looking around at my house and it is very nice. Very, very nice.

I feel fragile today. I felt fragile yesterday. I was so exhausted at the end of the day, felt so depressed, and I thought if I just succumbed to sleep, then I would wake up and feel better.

I woke up and did not feel better.

So here I sit at the computer with my worship music playing. God seems to be orchestrating the selection of iTunes that plays.

Casting Crowns sings:
"Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus

Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you"

And I think yes, yes, that is what I tried to do. I tried to love them like Jesus. I volunteered with Paramedics for Children  and took pictures of each student in that tiny rural school as they held the gigantic wipe board that said their name, grade, weight, height, and school name. Their ages ranged from 4 all the way up to one 13 year old. For most of them, the wipe boards were as big as they were.

The girls huddled around my camera as I took snapshots of each child. They were entranced with the view screen where they could see the person, live, moving in front of them. Little girls clustered around me and I wanted to scoop them up with their smiles and giggles and hug them close and say, "Jesús te ama." Which means, "Jesus loves you." I wish I could have had the chance to hold them tightly and sing, "Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so."

But I was nervous. I felt comfortable taking pictures and smiling at each child, telling them to smile in Spanish. But I wasn't sure if they'd appreciate this strange American wrapping them up in a tearful embrace, wanting to hold onto the love that shone in their eyes, the ache that laid behind their smiles. So instead, for a moment, I lightly put my arm around the girl closest to me and smiled at her and patted her back for a few seconds.

For a moment I was transported, as a mother, back home to when I would rub my stepson's back.

A mother's hand rubbing a child's back feels the same in any country.

I saw the other girls turn and look to see what I was doing. They did not look displeased, just curious. I suddenly felt self-conscious and took my arm away and continued to snap pictures. My heart hurt. I felt so nervous that I would do or say something that was inappropriate, that stepped over cultural comforts.

I look at pictures and blogs of other people visiting children in third world countries and I see them hugging and playing with the children. I ache to go back now and sit each one down in my lap and hold onto them with all my might. Not only because I wanted to give them comfort, to show them how my heart beat for them, but also for me. Because I selfishly wanted to be loved. What a revelation that is. One that does not make me feel very altruistic, but I am being honest just the same. It's not so much that I wanted them to make me feel good or better about myself...

I wanted to simply feel the hope in them; I wanted their smile to infect me. 

I long to return. I had such a wonderful time at that tiny school, truly helping.

Visiting Daniela a few days earlier (a separate blog entry which will be forthcoming), was more about them welcoming us. We were celebrities for a day. I wish it could have been more about Daniela and me as a child and her sponsor, but I am so grateful for the entire village and school that put so much effort into welcoming us and making us feel at home.

But it was at this tiny school, this volunteer effort that popped on our radar at the last minute, a true God-given opportunity, that touched my heart the most.

And so yes, I found I did not ache for the poverty in which they lived in. I certainly noticed it. And I certainly wished better for them. But there were so many smiles and giggles and curiosity. 

One girl, in particular, with a ponytail and long, dangling earings - her name was Reina,. 11 years old, and she and I had a special, unspoken bond. She smiled at me with a certain shy coyness. I smiled back and I felt my heart stir. How I yearned to talk with her - somehow, even using my broken Spanish. I wanted to connect with her. But I didn't. I only have those smiles to remember. How she followed me around, wordlessly, face lit up with joy and inquisitiveness.

I miss her.

I wish I could have been more vulnerable and at least given her a hug goodbye.

It's these thoughts that have me sitting here at my nice kitchen table with tears streaming down my face.

I'm trying to scroll through Ann Voskamp's "A Holy Experience" blog because not only is she my favorite writer, but she has gone on many mission trips through Compassion International and has written extensively about the difficulties in coming home to the comforts you enjoyed before and how to deal with the conflicting emotions as you fix your family a full, healthy meal, all the while knowing that the precious children you helped a world away will probably have little if any to eat.

How do you reconcile that?


How in the world do you reconcile that?

The two:
poverty and riches
abundance and need
seem to run down completely opposite paths

but I know full well that Jesus connects the two
from one arm to the other
stretched out on the cross. 

I know full well that Jesus calls us to connect the two, ourselves.
He calls us to reach out and
help
hold
hunger after loving the hungry..

I sit here, still in my American sleep, but now a bit more roused. I want to snap out of my sleep. I know what I saw; I know what I heard; I know what I experienced.

Strangely, I was not able to cry while in Honduras. I thought I'd be sobbing in the car if we drove by people climbing garbage dumps picking out anything they could find (and we did see that). I thought seeing a child in rags would bring me to tears. But I did not cry.

I thought that meant I wasn't being affected.

I thought that meant that I had failed.

But though I prayed that dangerous prayer: Lord, break my heart
and tried to be a Isaiah 25:4 woman

I fell trap to thinking that I had not done God's will. I had not followed His calling.

As I shake myself out of that fog that the enemy tries to stick my head in

I realize that I did not fail. A hunched over, sobbing body does not mean that I am broken-open. Perhaps I did keep it together while I was there. But that did not mean I was not affected.

My time of broken-openness was at our first dinner home with our family. I dished up Salisbury steak, heaps of mashed potatoes, and spoonfuls of corn onto five pretty blue decorative plates and I thought about each child I encountered. I thought about Daniela and, while she wore nice clothes for our visit, I knew her home was a simple tin shanty with a dirt floor. She had told me that she cooks for her family. I asked her what did she cook and she answered beans and bean soup.

I have no pretty, tied-up-with-a-bow way to end this blog entry for today. I have not come to any earth-shattering finalized conclusions. I am in limbo, between a world of abundance and a world of need.


I will close with these lyrics from the song, "Gratitude" by Nichole Nordeman, which I will be quoting throughout my Honduras blogs:

"We'll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need"

Lord who walks with me every moment, with us every moment, please help me balance myself between these two strange worlds I am in. I feel so lost and confused. Has my heart broken enough? Do I feel it enough? What do I do about it? 

And I hear God repeat to me those Casting Crowns lyrics:

"You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus"

Until next time.... 

American Awakened: Part One - Lord, Break My Heart

picture taken from http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1133728--honduras-prison-fire-inmates-awoke-to-a-nightmare-around-them

How do I describe the indescribable? How do I echo grateful sobs from a Honduran mother thanking me for giving monthly financial gifts to her daughter? How do I show you the tin shanties and wild roaming dogs I saw in Honduras? The eager schoolchildren waiting for pencils, erasers, and toys? I am not a professional blogger who took professional pictures during my week-long stay. My husband is making a documentary both for ChildFund International, our church, and possibly for the other organization we volunteered with for a day. He's the professional filmmaker. I am the writer. I can only rely on my words and I find now, two days in the United States, that words fail me. But because I am a writer and I need to share my experiences, I will humbly try to do the best I can, hoping God will lead my fingers as they type. 


Before departing, I had prayed the dangerous prayer that Jennifer Dukes Lee had prayed in her blog, Getting Down With Jesus, in this post: "When You Pray for a Heartbreak."

That post inspired me so much and planted the prayer that I held throughout the trip:

Lord, break my heart.

It was a dangerous thing for this sensitive woman to pray. I cry at Hallmark commercials. I cry when I see a deer dead at the side of the road. How would I handle seeing the poor and needy by the side of Honduran roads? How could I stand to see such sadness? How could my fragile heart possibly make it through this trip alive?

But I knew I could not turn a blind eye. I knew my heart pumped for the poor in pocketbook and in spirit. My heart bled for those who needed love. That was part of why my family and I sponsor two children from afar: Daniela in Honduras and Selpia in Indonesia. Actually coming face to face with that need would be difficult, but I knew that I had to have my eyes opened. My comfortable American sleep must life from my eyes. 

I did not want to settle for feeling satisfied having that money automatically taken out of our checking account every month and saying, well I'm glad we're doing that. We're helping a child in need. And while corresponding with Daniela for eight years has been a true blessing and treasure, I wanted to look into her eyes, this girl I had known through the lines of paper since she was four and a half years old....I needed to feel her hand in mine. Or put my arms around her, if she'd let me. 

And the overall difference in Honduras. Yes, I knew my heart had been pointing stronger toward the needy since becoming a Christian, but I also knew I was at a point where God wanted me to follow Him deeper into the real world. 

And so I walked. Husband, Lee (I will finally reveal his name so to better narrate our story), Stepdaughter whom I will call Ashley (must consider a teenager's privacy), and I walked. 

I cannot hope to write everything I encountered and experienced down in one blog entry so I shall have to work on this over the course of many entries. I thank you for grace and patience as I capture words that flit around me like moths -- 

yet if I have learned one thing from this trip which I can mention right now, it is this:

someone can see a moth...and someone else can see a butterfly.

Until next time...

Lord, We're Following You...

Leaving early Tuesday morning before sun-up to drive to O'Hare Airport for the first leg of our trip to

Honduras

where we will visit our sponsor child, "D,"

volunteer with Paramedics for Children

and strive to be the best hands and feet of Christ

as we can.

Please keep us in your prayers

and we thank you so very much.

We shall have many pictures and stories upon our return

and hopefully even a documentary!

Bless you!

Until we are in America again...



Follow You
by Leeland

You live among the least of these:
The weary and the weak.
And it would be a tragedy
For me to turn away.
All my needs You have supplied,
When I was dead You gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll...
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God,
I'll follow You into the world.

Use my hands, use my feet,
To make Your kingdom come.
To the corners of the earth
Until Your work is done.
'Cause faith without works is dead,
And on the cross, Your blood was shed,
So how could we not give it away so freely?

And I'll...
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
Oh, meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God,
I'll follow You into the world.

Yeah,
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
Oh, I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God,
I'll follow You into the world.

And I give all myself,
I give all myself,
And I give all myself to You.

Oh, and I give all myself, (I give myself)
Yes I give all myself, (Lord, I give myself)
And I give all myself to You. (I give it all to You)

(Lord I give it all to You)
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken, (All to your name)
I'll follow You into the world. (I'll follow You)
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God, (Poor and needy, God)
I'll follow You into the world.

I will follow...
I'll follow You into the homes of the broken,
I'll follow You into the world.
I'll meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.

If I Could Be a Refuge (announcing big things)

sun appearing through clouds in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Like so many things lately, I've meant to blog about this topic since Christmas, when the enormous gift was placed into my hands. But time got away from me; I became busy, busy, busy.

But my friend, Jennifer Dukes Lee, just announced that she is going to Haiti on a missions trip.

And, well, I have a somewhat similar announcement, but it needs backstory.

Husband told me he was getting me a fabulous Christmas present and that it would be only one, but the one would be worth it. On Christmas Day, he handed me the last present. I opened it and this is what happened (dare I show myself in video?):


http://youtube/ZsqNWHfi5Z4

Long story short, Husband had begun the application process for him, 13 year old SD and myself to visit the sponsor child, "D," whom I have sponsored for the past 8 years. She is now 12 years old. "D" lives in Honduras!

And a few weeks after that video, we found out that we had been accepted.

Praise God! It was some of the best news of my life. Imagine: going to Honduras and meeting "D" and her family - people I've corresponded with for eight years. Back and forth, Spanish to English, English to Spanish, stickers sent, pictures sent, drawings sent. A little dark-haired girl growing up tall and leggy into a raven-haired pre-teen.

The journal that Husband got me in that video is proving to be a good process journal. I write in it my thoughts about going to a third-world country. That will be quite a life-changing experience.
But am I ready? I thought. Do I step so much outside of my comfort zone and step into a world I know nothing about? Wouldn't that be called presumptuous? Would "D" and her family look at us middle-class Americans and think we were uppity and rich? Suddenly, doubts plagued me. What if I contracted malaria? What if the dreaded traveler's diarrhea occurred by brushing my teeth with tap water (which can happen)?

Ah, you devil, I had to say outloud. Stop talking to me. I decided to listen to God's Word:


Isaiah 58:10 "And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday."

And haven't the poor and oppressed been placed on my heart so much more in recent months? Indeed, I wrote many blog posts about the need to reach out to the needy. The least of these have tugged on my heart for a long time. 
  
Psalm 10:14 “But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless.”

There are so many things I want to tell "D." I am keeping a journal I want to have translated so that I do not pour a thousand words on the translator and overwhelm the dear girl.

I want her to know how much I think about her, how we all pray for her. I want her to know about the world I live in. I want to tell her how much God looks out for her and her loved ones. I want to tell her how proud I am of her for doing well in school and participating so cheerfully in church.

I want to hold her in my arms, this girl who calls me "Madrina," which  means "Godmother."

Think about that word: Godmother. In our culture, it means a person who the biological parents have entrusted their child to should they both die. In our culture, too, I think the "God" meaning of it has been all but erased.

Not so in Honduras. "D" and her family pray for my family regularly. They write how grateful they are for my love and prayers. They are so happy to love the Lord and that delights me. They trust me with their daughter and though I know I'm not the one who will raise her should her parents both pass away, I know that they look to me to be another "mother" who teaches her about God.

This trip is not just about the three hours we will be spending with "D" and her family. We are trying to find other volunteer opportunities and we doing some traveling. Just being in a third-world country that houses so many of "the least of these" will be a life-altering experience. I won't be able to encapsulate it in one blog entry nor will I be able to sum it up in a poem or essay. I think - no, I know - that I will be talking about this experience for the rest of my life.

We leave May 1st and return May 7th. But I know the journey is not confined to those dates. The experience will change me, grow me, mold me for years to come - hopefully for the rest of my days.

Lord, make me an Isaiah 25:4 woman:

“You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall.”

Spice Up Your Marriage - being the hands and feet of Christ!

I was eagerly looking forward to listening to Susie Larson's "Live the Promise" show today. Little did I know I would hear an idea that would spark a new adventurous spirit and idea!

Today's show was Faith Radio Net :: The Great Giveaway! Susie asked her listening audience, "what is the best thing you can do with ten dollars?" I was blown away by the answers she received. So many people being the hands and feet of Christ, being obedient, but gladly, not with burden or "I-have-to"s.

I'll give you an example that brought me to tears and touched my heart. Susie received an email from a man who said that he and his wife made a Christmas pinata and invited children of families they knew over to their house. Not just any children, however. These children all had special needs of one form or another and they provided pizza and fun for these kids as well as time for the busy and weary parents to do as they wish: go out on a long-needed date, take a nap, go Christmas shopping, pray.

Working with adults with disabilities, I see how taxing it is on caretakers who care for those with special needs. The blessings are enormous and definitely need to be acknowledged, but it is such a hard job. I don't consider my job hard...I consider the job of the person who lives with the person to be challenging...the family of the differently-abled person who loves him or her so much and supports him or her in everything they do...

That is a job full of rewards and frustrations all its own.

I listened to person after person call in to "Live the Promise" and tell what they did with their money. Whether it was $5 or $10 or $2,000 (yes, in one case it was that much), they were such a blessing to others. It is so obvious that when you give (and believe that you are not losing but gaining) that you will receive in return. Receive what? Well, sometimes that amount of money the person gave away will "mysteriously" and miraculously return in some form the next day or week. Or maybe the receiving is simply in feeling the Holy Spirit overcome you and wanting to burst from the sheer joy of it all.

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

~ Luke 6:38

So what does this have to do with spicing up your marriage? Well, Susie revealed what she did with her $10. She and her husband were at a grocery store and felt called to pay for the groceries of the woman in front of them. Susie tapped the woman on the shoulder and asked if she could pay for her. The woman's eyes filled with tears and said something like, "you don't know what that would mean." As it turns out, Susie and her husband had "stumbled upon" a woman who was a single mother barely getting by. She was in desperate need and there Susie and her husband were, offering Jesus' love and grace.

Susie felt so inspired by this act that she and her husband decided they were going to go on a "missionary date" once a month. They'd pray to God to put people in their path who were in need and they would go out and bless someone with God's love.

Well, hearing that put my mind and heart's gears in motion. Husband and I are in need of some spicing up with all the responsibility we shoulder from being sudden-full-time parents to the three kids (whom we love and are so grateful for) - but face it - we sometimes need a break! We do try to go to the nearby town and go on a date once in a while, but you can only go out to a restaurant and movie so many times. We need some adventure.

What better adventure is there than to do God's work in this world? What better thrill is there than to show strangers (whether they know God or not) that God loves them and wishes to bless them with a random act of kindness?

"You have blessed us all so
We bless all"
~ "All Is Grace" by Shaun Groves

So I wish to extend that challenge to you as well. It is Susie Larson's challenge as well as mine as well as Jesus'!

What can you do with $5? Can you pay for the person behind you in the drive-thru?
What can you do with $10? Go to a gift catalog like ELCA or Samaritan's Purse and see how far that money can go!

Will you join me with your spouse and be a missionary dater, too? We can go on "missionary double dates!"

Tell me all about it when you do so!

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, 

you did for me.'"

Matthew 25:40

When You are Overwhelmed with the Need of the World

Charity.
What do you think of when you hear that word?
Giving.
What do you think of when you hear that word?

Do you feel excited and full of potential, ready to give? Or do you feel overwhelmed at all the need in this world?

Do you feel jaded by all the commercials over the decades that paste poverty-stricken children on the television screen and do you think to yourself, "oh, they're just getting the worst-looking kid to pose and they just want my money - my money won't actually reach them."

Are you thinking, "somebody else will take care of them?"

Maybe you feel guilty when you hear 2 Corinthians 9:7:

"Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

Are you not exactly a cheerful giver? Please. Do not feel guilty. I have thought long and hard and have had it placed on my heart: God does not want you to feel guilty. Let me explain further.

Right now, a number of my favorite Christian writers are blogging from the Compassion International trip to Ecuador. You can read the many inspirational and heart-touching blogs and stories here.

I'm reading Ann Voskamp's blog posts the most because she speaks to my poet's heart. In her November 10th post, she writes about meeting one of her sponsor children, Lidia, in Ecuador. Ann writes,


"All poverty is first poverty of a relationship." 

And who is that relationship with? She continues:

"Falling out of relationship with God was our first fall into poverty  — and into conflict and sin and hardship.  And all subsequent poverty —- All poverty stems more from an absence of right relationships than a right resources. Anything that takes the place of the primacy of the Christ-relationship leads to a place of poverty."


Tears spilled over as I read her 11-10-11 post, as she marvels at how she "fritters" away $38 a month when this child, Lidia, has waited THREE YEARS to find a sponsor. Or rather, for a sponsor to choose her. I looked at my bank account and felt ashamed at all the menial purchases when so many children are abroad, sick, starving, dying. 


And then I felt what you might feel: complete ovewhelm. I can't do it all, God! I cried. I CAN'T! How can I help them? Do I go on a missionary trip and lend my services? I wondered if I could make a quick phone call, drum up some money, and join Ann, Shaun, and their friends at Compassion and quickly go there and lend my aid. 


Then I realized I am a wife and a stepmother who is dearly needed at home. What was I to do?


Then...something else came to mind. I remembered an interview Susie Larson had done on "Live the Promise" with a family who had sold all their possessions (after learning that riches did not cause true happiness) and bought and R.V. and began their ministry, Passion to Action. You can hear their amazing interview here.  (particularly important is the talk at 32 minutes and 40 seconds and on).

To fully understand the connections I am trying to make, I urge you to look at these links I am giving you. Listen to the podcast of the husband and wife's interview on Live the Promise. 


Jay and Beth Loecken packed their 4 kids up and took an R.V. and decided to bring their family on the road to serve and love others. They say a lot about serving others and focusing right in our own community. They are not saying to disregard the needs in third world countries, but they made the point that there are needy people right next door to us. 


And that made me think. What does God call us to do? I looked at Scripture:


"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:1-4

He calls us to give, but to give quietly, without "trumpets" and fanfare. Basically, do not give for your own glory, but for His. 

And then I read 1 John 3:17:

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

So for the love of God to be in you, you must think of those in need. To have a heart for the needy, is to have a heart for Jesus. 

But what about all of us who feel guilty/overwhelmed/jaded by all the need that is in the world? Whether we don't actually believe that much is out there (I don't believe that) or whether we think that we can't possibly make a dent in this world...

Well, you know what? Yes, you. You. YOU can help. YOU are called to help. 

BUT...God does not call you to do anything that He has not equipped you with. 

So... do we do the BIG and go be a missionary for Compassion International? 

Or do we serve our own communities? Do we bring a casserole to the recently-widowed woman down the street? Do we offer babysitting to a family whose parents are overstressed and burdened (that recently was blessed upon me)? Not that that kind of serving is "little," but it isn't as BIG-SOUNDING as the above mentioned example? 

Big or little? Far or near? This or that? 

I don't want to judge one or the other - the point is that you need to ACT. Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:17 once again). 

Yes, I understand there are so many cries for help. So many men, women, children, abroad and in our own country, state, town, street. Where ought we put our focus? 

Do we need to worry so much on the Where? On the How? Ought we just focus on the DOING of something? 

Stay with me here. 

What if EVERY ABLE person donated money to either a sponsorship program or money to a program that helps the poverty-stricken? Or what if EVERY ABLE person donated time at local soup kitchens, hospitals, or cooking dinners for that sick neighbor...

does God care about the HOW? He helps makes things happen.  But we have to make the WHAT. We need to make the first step. The ACTION. God will make the HOW of our steps. He will use us to do His good if we allow Him to. 

Now listen to this:

Our God is a God of HOW. He needs us to do the WHAT. He will direct us, guide us, if we let him.  

Do you feel a little less overwhelmed? When I realized this - that I didn't have to fret over how my help was directed - just that I had to make that step to help...when I realized that God would take my help and use it for His glory and good, I felt so much lighter. 

We all try to be God once in a while, don't we?

But God is God and we are human. Flawed humans who sometimes don't know what to do with all of our privileges, yet at the same time some of us don't know how to ask for help for what we need. 

Let God be God and let us do what we need to do: take action. 

I feel so passionate about this, folks. I was explaining this whole concept to my husband in the car and I was almost crying. I was so grateful to God for laying these thoughts and realizations on my heart because I feel it's so important to share. 

You don't need to feel guilty or overwhelmed or jaded or think you can't possibly make a difference. The TV may make you think you have an obligation to this or that in a foreign country. And maybe you do. Is that something that calls to you? For some, it is. And God bless their souls and acts!

But maybe you feel called to help out locally - for the homeless or needy families in town. 

The point is, my lovely friends who have stuck with me and are still reading this long blog post, is that you must first do something in order for the glory to go to God. 

If I may digress a little, let me say that I am the first to admit that I am a bit selfish at times. I want to do my thing the way I want to do it. But I am tired of the selfishness. And I do feel called to go abroad and place myself in a country that is in desperate need. I want to force myself to serve others. Am I going to book the tickets next week? No, I know that trip will have to wait until God provides. 

BUT I know I can work on that selfish nature by looking around in my own neighborhood. There is a woman at church who is in the hospital for a brain aneurism. She is such a sweet soul and I want to check up on her. And God has called me to serve my stepchildren. They are broken in their own ways. They have food, clothing, shelter, but they are very needy in emotion. They crave love and I need to make myself available to them. That sounds easy, but trust me - for me, it isn't. 

So what I am trying so hard to say is...

just act. Don't worry about the HOW and just do the WHAT. 

God is a mighty God, God is an awesome God. He is a mover and a shaker. 

Trust in Him. Act. Be His vessel. Glorify Him with your good deeds and kindnesses. Look outside of your own personal box and make yourself aware of the needs around you. 

In giving, we receive. 

My dears,

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  

 Colossians 3:12


May God bless you with ideas and passion and may He work your work, may he make your WHAT glorify Him and what Christianity is all about and may He work a miraculous HOW through your efforts.


Now, enjoy this song that has the lyrics that talk about what I've been talking about:
Steven Curtis Chapman's "Do Everything."