The orphanage where I will be spending the summer is now home to two more little girls, Brenda & Esther. They are sisters who were brought out of heartbreaking circumstances. Their mother had abandoned them and left their father to care for the girls. Brenda & Esther were left alone during the day while their father went out in search of work, and at night the girls and their father all slept on a single mat on the dirt floor of their tiny, one-room home. The girls' bellies are distended from malnutrition. To get water, the girls had to walk a narrow trail through fields & forrest to a small hole full of statgnant, muddy water where they filled 2 fuel cans with the water and carried them back down the trail. Brenda, 5-years-old, carried both water cans because her 4-year-old sister, Esther, is too weak to carry the second.
So many things are wrong with this! These little girls are 4 & 5 years old. They should be in school, not hiking to get water, wondering when they will eat next, and being left alone with no one to watch over them. Young girls get raped all too often in Uganda walking to get water on their own. And what kind of things are swimming in that water waiting to infect those girls' little bodies?
Praise God that these little girls were taken in by Rafiki Ministries! But what about all the other children who suffer this same plight? There are over 2 million orphans in the city of Kampala alone - 2 million precious faces with no one to love them, no one to provide for them, left to face the world on their own. More than 26,000 children died today due to starvation or a preventable disease - TWENTY-SIX THOUSAND kids whose bodies withered away until they couldn't take another breath. Poverty is a daily reality to more than a billion people around the world who attempt to survive on less than one dollar a day while an additional two billion live on less than two dollars each day. Less than TWO DOLLARS A DAY! And it doesn't stop there. AIDS, tuberculosis, rape, war, kidnapping, sexual slavery, religious opression, torture, terrorism, government corruption. I can't even begin to imagine all the horror that some people are faced with every day. My heart aches for the poor, orphaned, sick, windowed, enslaved, victimized, opressed, imprisioned, and lost.
The question I can't seem to escape is why them? Why Brenda and Esther? Why Elise? Why Ronald? Why Evens? Why Dilven? Why were these precious children orphaned, abandoned, beaten? Why were they the ones who saw their parents killed in an earthquake, who suffer from malnutrition every day, who are forced to wander the streets begging for food, who are infected by preventable disease with no access to medical care?
Why not me? Why not you? Why was I blessed with a loving family, a safe home, a bounty of food, a life of privilege? Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry for the blessings I have enjoyed. But I am angry that there are children all over the world who will never know the life I have, the love I have, the safety & security of having their most basic needs met.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
Running at a thousand miles a minute
You know those days when you think of your to-do list and just about have a heart attack? The overwhelming anxiety that consumes you wondering how you will be able to do everything you have in front of you? That is a pretty accurate picture of my weekend. Excitement turned to anxiety as I doubted my ability to accomplish all I have to do - my first OB test, a confusion of clinical paperwork, trying to get a handle on all my financial demands, the overwhelming challenge to raise over $5000 to spend the summer in Africa, remaining bathed in prayer & scripture as a developing Christian & Bible study leader, the uncomfortable task of being asked to share my testimony before a crowd of my fellow college students, and that's the short version. I know many people can relate to how I was feeling. For many of us, our lives thrive on busyness as much as we often despise it.
My breaking point came on Saturday night. I could feel my heart rate rise, my arteries begin to constrict, and my hands start shaking as my body began to give way to the stress. I was trying to study but to no avail. My mind was all over the place. "I need to remember to email her. Oh, I forgot I have to do that this week. I really need to find time to get this done. Why won't my phone stop ringing?!...Oh goodness, I'm going to fail this test if I don't get to studying!" At this point I should've stopped to take a breath right? But me, with my super woman mentality, thought "Okay, I just need to multitask to get things done." So I turned on iTunes to pick Bible study songs for the week while I continued in my attempt to study. God could've been screaming at me, but I wouldn't stop long enough for Him to get through my thick head UNTIL I heard the first song that started playing...
"God, my God, I cry out Your beloved needs You now.
God be near. Calm my fear, and take my doubt.
Your kindness is what pulls me up.
Your love is all that draws me in.
I will lift my eyes to Maker of the mountains I can't climb.
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild.
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside.
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You..."
Life isn't about me, me, me. And when I try to take on the world by myself, stress & anxiety are inevitable because I CAN'T do it. But I'm not supposed to be able to do it.
The beauty of human weakness - it causes us to turn to the Lord.
God tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore we should boast all the more gladly about our weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on us. That is why, for Christ's sake, we should delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, . For when we are weak, then we are strong. (from 2 Corinthians 12:10)
So how will I be able to overcome busyness with a heart of joy? How will I be able to share the story of my failure & God's redeeming grace to a room full of people? How will I be able to serve the Lord in Africa when I don't feel equipped? How will I be able to raise the money needed to continue pursuing God's will? How will you make it through each day, no matter the challenges you face?
...By turning our eyes to God - the Maker of the mountains we can't climb, the Calmer of the oceans raging wild, the Healer of the hurts we hold inside, our Creator, our Father, our King.
My breaking point came on Saturday night. I could feel my heart rate rise, my arteries begin to constrict, and my hands start shaking as my body began to give way to the stress. I was trying to study but to no avail. My mind was all over the place. "I need to remember to email her. Oh, I forgot I have to do that this week. I really need to find time to get this done. Why won't my phone stop ringing?!...Oh goodness, I'm going to fail this test if I don't get to studying!" At this point I should've stopped to take a breath right? But me, with my super woman mentality, thought "Okay, I just need to multitask to get things done." So I turned on iTunes to pick Bible study songs for the week while I continued in my attempt to study. God could've been screaming at me, but I wouldn't stop long enough for Him to get through my thick head UNTIL I heard the first song that started playing...
"God, my God, I cry out Your beloved needs You now.
God be near. Calm my fear, and take my doubt.
Your kindness is what pulls me up.
Your love is all that draws me in.
I will lift my eyes to Maker of the mountains I can't climb.
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer of the oceans raging wild.
I will lift my eyes to the Healer of the hurt I hold inside.
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You..."
Life isn't about me, me, me. And when I try to take on the world by myself, stress & anxiety are inevitable because I CAN'T do it. But I'm not supposed to be able to do it.
The beauty of human weakness - it causes us to turn to the Lord.
God tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore we should boast all the more gladly about our weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on us. That is why, for Christ's sake, we should delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, . For when we are weak, then we are strong. (from 2 Corinthians 12:10)
So how will I be able to overcome busyness with a heart of joy? How will I be able to share the story of my failure & God's redeeming grace to a room full of people? How will I be able to serve the Lord in Africa when I don't feel equipped? How will I be able to raise the money needed to continue pursuing God's will? How will you make it through each day, no matter the challenges you face?
...By turning our eyes to God - the Maker of the mountains we can't climb, the Calmer of the oceans raging wild, the Healer of the hurts we hold inside, our Creator, our Father, our King.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Refine this wellspring
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do comes from it."
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
Guilt. Something I am well acquainted with. Guilt has inhabited my heart for many years past and slowly rotted away parts of my heart. But after many tears, difficult conversations, internal warring, and more pain than I ever want to experience again, I found myself on my knees yearning to feel the love of God again. The grace that covered me in that moment was indescribable and magnificent, overwhelming in a wonderful way! I recently came to the sad realization that because I don't enjoy taking time to dwell on my wretched sin and all the hurt & heartache that comes with it, I forget the magnitude of that saving grace.
Pride. It has a sneaky way of creeping into our hearts initially unnoticed. Reading the story of the sinful woman who annointed Jesus' feet with perfume, I finally came face-to-face with the pride in my heart that I had never known was there. I remembered where God has brought me from and the restoration I have found in Him. How humbling it was to be broken of the unjustified judgement I have cast on others.
"For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-10
Jealousy. Something everyone deals with but no one wants to admit. Personally, it was only a few days ago that I realized what a big problem this is in my own heart. I compare myself to everyone around me - sometimes tearing myself down for not being skinny enough or pretty enough, other times building myself up for feeling intellectually superior. It's disgusting, I know. And it was a hard thing to admit to myself. Sometimes it isn't others I compare myself to; instead I am criticize myself for not measuring up to my own expectations - my looks, my character, my intellect, my work ethic, my ability as a nurse, how likeable I am. This all stems from jealousy. And jealousy stems from a discontent heart. I have let the things of this world take hold of my thoughts & become objects of my affection - physical appearance, reputation, popularity, relationships, expectations. My thoughts should always be fixed on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable, and excellent, and worthy of praise - things of God and things that bring glory to God. Those are the only things worth dwelling on because my Savior is the only thing worthy to be the object of my affection.
"I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1-2
Purging my heart of all sin & unrighteousness is difficult & uncomfortable but wonderful at the same time. The harder I pursue the Lord, the easier it is to watch everything else fall away. Being renewed & restored is part of the beauty of being a beloved child of God.
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
Guilt. Something I am well acquainted with. Guilt has inhabited my heart for many years past and slowly rotted away parts of my heart. But after many tears, difficult conversations, internal warring, and more pain than I ever want to experience again, I found myself on my knees yearning to feel the love of God again. The grace that covered me in that moment was indescribable and magnificent, overwhelming in a wonderful way! I recently came to the sad realization that because I don't enjoy taking time to dwell on my wretched sin and all the hurt & heartache that comes with it, I forget the magnitude of that saving grace.
Pride. It has a sneaky way of creeping into our hearts initially unnoticed. Reading the story of the sinful woman who annointed Jesus' feet with perfume, I finally came face-to-face with the pride in my heart that I had never known was there. I remembered where God has brought me from and the restoration I have found in Him. How humbling it was to be broken of the unjustified judgement I have cast on others.
"For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:8-10
Jealousy. Something everyone deals with but no one wants to admit. Personally, it was only a few days ago that I realized what a big problem this is in my own heart. I compare myself to everyone around me - sometimes tearing myself down for not being skinny enough or pretty enough, other times building myself up for feeling intellectually superior. It's disgusting, I know. And it was a hard thing to admit to myself. Sometimes it isn't others I compare myself to; instead I am criticize myself for not measuring up to my own expectations - my looks, my character, my intellect, my work ethic, my ability as a nurse, how likeable I am. This all stems from jealousy. And jealousy stems from a discontent heart. I have let the things of this world take hold of my thoughts & become objects of my affection - physical appearance, reputation, popularity, relationships, expectations. My thoughts should always be fixed on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable, and excellent, and worthy of praise - things of God and things that bring glory to God. Those are the only things worth dwelling on because my Savior is the only thing worthy to be the object of my affection.
"I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:1-2
Purging my heart of all sin & unrighteousness is difficult & uncomfortable but wonderful at the same time. The harder I pursue the Lord, the easier it is to watch everything else fall away. Being renewed & restored is part of the beauty of being a beloved child of God.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Balancing anxiety & excitement
God has been doing some wonderful things in my life lately, and although it can all seem a little overwhelming at times, it comforts me to know that God is in the midst of it all orchestrating everything.
My excitement continues to grow as I try to figure out all that I need to do for my summer in Africa. Two trips make things a little more complicated with plane tickets and finances, but I'm hoping that I can get it all figured out once our nursing group to Kenya meets soon. May seems so far away, but often I find myself thinking of Uganda, the precious kids at the orphanage, the medical clinics, and all the people I have yet to meet.
Trying to focus on the semester in front of me before jumping ahead to this summer isn't always easy, but God has begun to bring together an opportunity that I know will be amazing. Last semester God began to birth in me this idea of beginning a Bible study. That vision grew to bring together a God-seeking group of freshman girls who desire to be challenged to grow in their faith and want honest, authentic community. After some guidance from others, some doubt, much prayer, and lots of study, God has answered more prayers than just my own and brought together what I pray will be a wonderful, passionate small group studying women of the Bible.
As far as nursing goes, oh boy am I in for a crazy semester?! Last night I checked my email and, low and behold, I already have homework before the first day of classes begins. Why am I not surprised? After a few minutes of sulking, I continued reading the semester calendar and came to the realization that not only will it be a crazy busy semester but also a fantasticly exciting one! I am going to be learning about OB & pediatric nursing. I was a little alarmed, to say the least, when I saw that I only have 2 weeks of classes before I start clinicals at the hospital. How in the world am I going to know what I'm doing after only 2 weeks?! But I told myself my professors know what they're doing, and many students have done this before me.
Everything considered, I am currently trying to maintain a balance of my anxiety & excitement at what is to come. I am surprised to say that all my initial doubts & fears about everything ahead of me have been calmed by my faith that God is in control. I know that shouldn't surprise me. I'm taking it as a sign of growth and a promise that God is indeed preparing me for His plans.
My excitement continues to grow as I try to figure out all that I need to do for my summer in Africa. Two trips make things a little more complicated with plane tickets and finances, but I'm hoping that I can get it all figured out once our nursing group to Kenya meets soon. May seems so far away, but often I find myself thinking of Uganda, the precious kids at the orphanage, the medical clinics, and all the people I have yet to meet.
Trying to focus on the semester in front of me before jumping ahead to this summer isn't always easy, but God has begun to bring together an opportunity that I know will be amazing. Last semester God began to birth in me this idea of beginning a Bible study. That vision grew to bring together a God-seeking group of freshman girls who desire to be challenged to grow in their faith and want honest, authentic community. After some guidance from others, some doubt, much prayer, and lots of study, God has answered more prayers than just my own and brought together what I pray will be a wonderful, passionate small group studying women of the Bible.
As far as nursing goes, oh boy am I in for a crazy semester?! Last night I checked my email and, low and behold, I already have homework before the first day of classes begins. Why am I not surprised? After a few minutes of sulking, I continued reading the semester calendar and came to the realization that not only will it be a crazy busy semester but also a fantasticly exciting one! I am going to be learning about OB & pediatric nursing. I was a little alarmed, to say the least, when I saw that I only have 2 weeks of classes before I start clinicals at the hospital. How in the world am I going to know what I'm doing after only 2 weeks?! But I told myself my professors know what they're doing, and many students have done this before me.
Everything considered, I am currently trying to maintain a balance of my anxiety & excitement at what is to come. I am surprised to say that all my initial doubts & fears about everything ahead of me have been calmed by my faith that God is in control. I know that shouldn't surprise me. I'm taking it as a sign of growth and a promise that God is indeed preparing me for His plans.
Monday, December 20, 2010
5 months and I'll be off to Africa!
As some of you know, last summer in Peru God gave me the wonderful opportunity to help at the local clinic in Conima every Sunday. Through my experiences there He instilled in me an excitement for medical missions that has only grown since then. Soon after returning to the U.S. I began praying about where I will serve this summer. While visiting with a couple that I look up to & love dearly, they lent me a book called Operation World that has statistics & information on every country in the world. As I read about many different countries, I wrote down the names of countries that returned to my thoughts often - countries rich with medical needs, overcome with spiritual darkness, trapped in war, infrequented by missionaries, unreached with the gospel. I wrote down the country's names on sticky notes and posted them on my bulletin board. More & more sticky notes filled my bulletin board as I read about countries like Sudan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Uganda, Rwanda, Iran, India, Haiti. As I prayed about the countries whose names hung above my desk, the list slowly grew smaller until 3 names remained - Sudan, Uganda, & Rwanda.
While narrowing my list of countries I was also searching by many different means for chances to use my nursing skills & love for the Lord to serve for the summer. Time after time I would get excited about a potential opportunity only to find out later that it wouldn't work out.
During my search for a God-appointed opportunity, Sara Hamilton Kiwanuka returned to her hometown in Pflugerville to raise funds for the Rafiki Africa Children's Home, an orphanage in Uganda that she & her husband started. Sara is a UMHB nursing graduate so while in the area she visited her alma mater. This visit was around the same time that advising began for spring 2011. During my advising appointment, my advisor asked me how my trip to Peru went and whether I was planning another mission trip soon. When I told her about my search for a place in Africa to serve she immediately asked, "Do you know Sara Hamilton??" She told me about Sara, gave me a brochure about Rafiki Africa Ministries, and told me I should contact her. I thought it sounded pretty cool but figured it probably wouldn't work out. Only a week later at the hospital my clinical instructor, Ms Meeker, told me she had something for me. She pulled out the same brochure and said that she thought of me when she heard about Sara & the orphanage. I thought that was a pretty weird coincident. But it got weirder when one day in class I asked Ms Hubbard about malnutrition & B12 deficiency. We got to talking about how I want to practice nursing in a third world country, and she asked me, "Have you heard of Sara Hamilton? She is doing the same thing. She has an orphanage in Uganda. I can get you one of her brochures from the nursing office if you would like." I couldn't help but laugh. Okay! I figured it was past time to contact Sara.
I found Sara on facebook and sent her a message asking if she might want any help at the orphanage over the summer. I didn't hear back for a little while and assumed that was another dead end until I returned home for Christmas break. I hadn't been on facebook for a month and had received a return message from Sara in that time. In short it said she would enjoy having help over the summer from someone with a medical background. Sara & her husband, Joseph would be in Pflugerville until the end of December so we arranged a time to meet. The meeting went wonderfully, and we got to talking for over 4 hours! After much prayer on my part as well as many others and a feeling of direct guidance from the Lord, I have decided that this is where the Lord is leading me.
I will be spending the summer in East Africa, both in the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda as well as a rural village in the Rift Valley of Kenya. I will fly to Uganda mid-May and live at Rafiki Africa Ministries Orphanage assisting Sara in attending to the children's medical needs, beginning their medical records to facilitate future adoption, and assisting with some short-term medical clinics in slum areas. On July 29 I will say farewell to Uganda and fly to Kenya where I will meet a team of fellow UMHB nursing students. Our UMHB team will then travel to a very rural village where we will host a medical clinic. We will leave Kenya and return home on August 10.
God has amazed me in how He has brought my summer plans together, and this is just the beginning!
While narrowing my list of countries I was also searching by many different means for chances to use my nursing skills & love for the Lord to serve for the summer. Time after time I would get excited about a potential opportunity only to find out later that it wouldn't work out.
During my search for a God-appointed opportunity, Sara Hamilton Kiwanuka returned to her hometown in Pflugerville to raise funds for the Rafiki Africa Children's Home, an orphanage in Uganda that she & her husband started. Sara is a UMHB nursing graduate so while in the area she visited her alma mater. This visit was around the same time that advising began for spring 2011. During my advising appointment, my advisor asked me how my trip to Peru went and whether I was planning another mission trip soon. When I told her about my search for a place in Africa to serve she immediately asked, "Do you know Sara Hamilton??" She told me about Sara, gave me a brochure about Rafiki Africa Ministries, and told me I should contact her. I thought it sounded pretty cool but figured it probably wouldn't work out. Only a week later at the hospital my clinical instructor, Ms Meeker, told me she had something for me. She pulled out the same brochure and said that she thought of me when she heard about Sara & the orphanage. I thought that was a pretty weird coincident. But it got weirder when one day in class I asked Ms Hubbard about malnutrition & B12 deficiency. We got to talking about how I want to practice nursing in a third world country, and she asked me, "Have you heard of Sara Hamilton? She is doing the same thing. She has an orphanage in Uganda. I can get you one of her brochures from the nursing office if you would like." I couldn't help but laugh. Okay! I figured it was past time to contact Sara.
I found Sara on facebook and sent her a message asking if she might want any help at the orphanage over the summer. I didn't hear back for a little while and assumed that was another dead end until I returned home for Christmas break. I hadn't been on facebook for a month and had received a return message from Sara in that time. In short it said she would enjoy having help over the summer from someone with a medical background. Sara & her husband, Joseph would be in Pflugerville until the end of December so we arranged a time to meet. The meeting went wonderfully, and we got to talking for over 4 hours! After much prayer on my part as well as many others and a feeling of direct guidance from the Lord, I have decided that this is where the Lord is leading me.
I will be spending the summer in East Africa, both in the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda as well as a rural village in the Rift Valley of Kenya. I will fly to Uganda mid-May and live at Rafiki Africa Ministries Orphanage assisting Sara in attending to the children's medical needs, beginning their medical records to facilitate future adoption, and assisting with some short-term medical clinics in slum areas. On July 29 I will say farewell to Uganda and fly to Kenya where I will meet a team of fellow UMHB nursing students. Our UMHB team will then travel to a very rural village where we will host a medical clinic. We will leave Kenya and return home on August 10.
God has amazed me in how He has brought my summer plans together, and this is just the beginning!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Counting my Blessings
Thanksgiving...
The preface to Christmas?
A day of total & complete gluttony?
Food, football, and family?
Thanksgiving is meant to be so much more. It is a day devoted to recognizing the blessings God has poured out on you. By recognizing blessings I mean more than just praying "God, thank you for this chance to spend time with family & friends and thank you for everything you have given us. Bless this wonderful food to the nourishment of our bodies. Amen" before digging into the extravegant feast laid out before you. We are so so blessed with luxuries beyond what we could ever need, and we hardly ever take the time to recognize it.
God has given me so much that I never appreciate until I have to live without it, things like:
a roof over my head to protect me from the sun & wind & rain, much more than a single pair of clothes, shoes, a toothbrush, clean & drinkable water, plumbing, electricity, easy access to medication and medical care, a bed, soap, education, Christian parents who love me, an electric stove, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine & dryer, heat & air conditioning, nutritious food, a sense of safety & protection, a car, a computer & internet access, grocery stores, a fair government, freedom. I could go on and on.
Read through that list again, slowly this time, and think about what your life would be like without each of those things. Now think of the people who live every day without those things. The woman living in Afghanistan who is oppressed & devalued by the Muslim religion and men all around her. The people of Haiti living in filth surrounded by death & disease with no hope of a better tomorrow. The innocent young woman trapped in the sex-trafficing business with no way out. The orphan who has no concept of love and family. The heartbroken widow in India who is seen as an outcast of society because she no longer has a husband. The people who lie sick & dying of preventable & treatable illnesses hundreds of miles from any kind of medical care. The child soldiers in Uganda who are trained to fight & forced to kill after they are kidnapped from their families. The malnourished children of Africa who search for scraps of food among the garbage. The homeless, poor, rape victims, enslaved, tourtured, lost, searching, hopeless, depressed, suicidal, lonely, neglected, addicted.
Counting my blessings makes my heart ache for those who so desperately need the very things I take for granted. So this thanksgiving as you thank God for all the blessings you have - big & small, luxuries & needs, overlooked & unappreciated - allow your mind to spend some time dwelling on those in your city and around the world that are in need. Pray for their hearts, their salvation, and their needs. And then go a step further and do something about it.
The preface to Christmas?
A day of total & complete gluttony?
Food, football, and family?
Thanksgiving is meant to be so much more. It is a day devoted to recognizing the blessings God has poured out on you. By recognizing blessings I mean more than just praying "God, thank you for this chance to spend time with family & friends and thank you for everything you have given us. Bless this wonderful food to the nourishment of our bodies. Amen" before digging into the extravegant feast laid out before you. We are so so blessed with luxuries beyond what we could ever need, and we hardly ever take the time to recognize it.
God has given me so much that I never appreciate until I have to live without it, things like:
a roof over my head to protect me from the sun & wind & rain, much more than a single pair of clothes, shoes, a toothbrush, clean & drinkable water, plumbing, electricity, easy access to medication and medical care, a bed, soap, education, Christian parents who love me, an electric stove, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine & dryer, heat & air conditioning, nutritious food, a sense of safety & protection, a car, a computer & internet access, grocery stores, a fair government, freedom. I could go on and on.
Read through that list again, slowly this time, and think about what your life would be like without each of those things. Now think of the people who live every day without those things. The woman living in Afghanistan who is oppressed & devalued by the Muslim religion and men all around her. The people of Haiti living in filth surrounded by death & disease with no hope of a better tomorrow. The innocent young woman trapped in the sex-trafficing business with no way out. The orphan who has no concept of love and family. The heartbroken widow in India who is seen as an outcast of society because she no longer has a husband. The people who lie sick & dying of preventable & treatable illnesses hundreds of miles from any kind of medical care. The child soldiers in Uganda who are trained to fight & forced to kill after they are kidnapped from their families. The malnourished children of Africa who search for scraps of food among the garbage. The homeless, poor, rape victims, enslaved, tourtured, lost, searching, hopeless, depressed, suicidal, lonely, neglected, addicted.
Counting my blessings makes my heart ache for those who so desperately need the very things I take for granted. So this thanksgiving as you thank God for all the blessings you have - big & small, luxuries & needs, overlooked & unappreciated - allow your mind to spend some time dwelling on those in your city and around the world that are in need. Pray for their hearts, their salvation, and their needs. And then go a step further and do something about it.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
A Call to Get Uncomfortable
Throughout this semester I have been reading through the book Radical by David Platt slowly but surely. It has challenged me to change the way I live, to live outside my comfort zone. It would be redundant to say that in some ways this is an uncomfortable idea to me, but as I read Platt's words and reflect on scripture there is something within me that yearns to fulfill this challenge, some part of me that desires that uncomfortable living. Kinda weird, I know. So the past few weeks I have been trying to work out all of this that is floating around in my mind & my heart. Then this morning as I'm driving I hear a song come on the radio. It seems like a good song, but unfortunately I park my car and have to get out to go to class before the song is over. So I store away a couple lines of the lyrics in my head and resolve to look the song up on the internet during my lunch break. These are the lyrics I found when I looked up the song, and they touched my heart in a powerful way.
In my own little world it hardly ever rains.
I've never gone hungry, always felt safe.
I got some money in my pockey, shoes on my feet in my own little world
Population: me.
I try to stay awake during Sunday morning church.
I throw a twenty in the plate, but I never give till it hurts.
And I turn off the news when I don't like what I see.
It's easy to do when it's population: me.
What if there's a bigger picture? What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now outside my own little word?
Stopped at a red light, looked out my window.
I saw a cardboard sign
Said "Help this homeless widow",
And just above that sign was the face of a human.
I thought to myself, "God, what have I been doing?"
So I rolled down the window and I looked her in the eye.
Oh, how many times have I just passed her by?
I gave her some money then drove on through,
And my own little world reached population: two.
Father, break my heart for what breaks yours.
Give me open hands and open doors.
Put your light in my eyes, and let me see
That my own little world is not about me.
What if there's a bigger picture? What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now?
I don't wanna miss what matters. I wanna be reaching out.
Show me the greater purpose so I can start living right now outside my own little world.
~My Own Little World by Matthew West
Let these words stink in even though it will be very uncomfortable. It is when our hearts are penetrated with the need of others and the compassion of Christ that we are moved to drastic action.
In my own little world it hardly ever rains.
I've never gone hungry, always felt safe.
I got some money in my pockey, shoes on my feet in my own little world
Population: me.
I try to stay awake during Sunday morning church.
I throw a twenty in the plate, but I never give till it hurts.
And I turn off the news when I don't like what I see.
It's easy to do when it's population: me.
What if there's a bigger picture? What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now outside my own little word?
Stopped at a red light, looked out my window.
I saw a cardboard sign
Said "Help this homeless widow",
And just above that sign was the face of a human.
I thought to myself, "God, what have I been doing?"
So I rolled down the window and I looked her in the eye.
Oh, how many times have I just passed her by?
I gave her some money then drove on through,
And my own little world reached population: two.
Father, break my heart for what breaks yours.
Give me open hands and open doors.
Put your light in my eyes, and let me see
That my own little world is not about me.
What if there's a bigger picture? What if I'm missing out?
What if there's a greater purpose I could be living right now?
I don't wanna miss what matters. I wanna be reaching out.
Show me the greater purpose so I can start living right now outside my own little world.
~My Own Little World by Matthew West
Let these words stink in even though it will be very uncomfortable. It is when our hearts are penetrated with the need of others and the compassion of Christ that we are moved to drastic action.
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