Showing posts with label the suffering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the suffering. Show all posts

Saturday, April 30, 2011

for those needing hope


We crave it. A happy ending with pretty people. Something bright in a world that often feels dark.


Yet images of royalty flash across the screen followed by the cry of cities devastated and families separated. It's hard for a mind to comprehend.


When full, we rarely seek. But when empty and broken, desperation forces us to look at him. Look for him--questioning him.





It's in those times of soul-fatigue that we have a choice. Either we reject Him as unfaithful and deny Him as sovereign, choosing to define him based upon what our eyes momentarily see.


Or we choose to believe him to be who he has revealed himself to be. Beginning with him and then resting in his Father hands.


Only one choice stirs the hope. Praying hope to rise in him for those facing great loss today.


"Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust."
Psalm 16:1


Bringing it home...

What word from the Word can you give to someone needing hope?



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Thursday, February 24, 2011

calling all couponing-divas for such a cause as this


On Tuesday I posted about my trite need for recipes when the world is dying of hunger. It was a sobering day. But a dear friend commented about her wise use of coupons and it got me thinking.


She coupons in order to stock pile items so that her family can give those things to people in need. Brilliant, huh?! And maybe enough motivation to get me back on the coupon wagon.






I am the worst at couponing. In grocery store visits of old, I have fumbled around with slippery 50-cent-off coupons while my kids grew ever-impatient, nearly scaling the dairy case. So I gave it all up. The reason to coupon was not worth the hassle of carrying it out.


But, if I had some tips on how to coupon quickly and easily for such a cause as this, I may be able to follow through. And I bet others may be inspired as well.


So we coupon-drop-outs need you money-saving-divas. Either leave a comment with your amazingly easy ideas or link up one of your own blog posts that inspires and equips.


Come on girls. I know you are out there.








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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

my "need" was so trite in comparison


I was originally going to post today about my need for new recipes. How I was in a meal rut, preparing the same three dinners for my sweet family each week, while then grazing on the leftovers.

Then I picked up Compassion's Winter magazine. And the original post felt so trite.





"The world's greatest health risk: Hunger." Hunger. Sometimes I just need a shake back into reality. While I moan over eating a big plate of hot spaghetti...again...billions are starving. While our nation consumes more calories than any other, most scrounge for a bite.

To be honest, I read these statistics and I am left paralyzed on my soft couch in hopelessness. The task appears daunting. The numbers overwhelming.

So I ask His opinion.

I think our call is simple as the Maker's children. First, let's not forget. Let us not grow blind to the great need "out there." Let us remember a world desperate for the basics.

And second, let's do something. Anything. As an individual we may not be able to save the whole world, but we can help one. Or two. Or five. We can ask Him to open a door where our excess can be shared with another. Locally or globally.

So I am not going to whine about eating the same thing again tonight. I lift up thanks and ask that our fill be used to bless another.

Bringing it home...

How about you? What do these statistics do to your own heart?



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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

praying against human trafficking


For the last thirty days I have stood beside Abolition! and approached the throne of our great God on behalf of the atrocity.


Children forgotten to the hands of captors.

Women reduced to mere objects of cheap sexual thrill.

Faces that have names, and hearts that have grown numb to the pain.






And though the thoughts, images, and stories drain hope from one's veins like color stolen from a once beautiful painting, when bowing before His throne a small glimmer of Light seems to break through.

I found myself prompted to pray that His Spirit would stir among the captives. That He would invade the brothels and dirt beds with the secret of life found only in Him. I don't know how. I don't know when. But I believe it His will.




Would you join the thousands
interceding on behalf of the victims
?


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Monday, December 13, 2010

circle and star the day


VIGIL RESCHEDULED FOR 1.18.11 DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS

*****


Prayer vigil scheduled in Greensboro, NC, Westover Church, 6:30-7:30, on 1.11.11.

Would love to see you there
!



*******



1.11.11

A date to mark on our calendars.



A date for our hearts to pause,

our knees to hit the ground,

and our lips to speak for the speechless.



National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.




In preparation, I am personally partnering with Abolition!
for a month of focused prayer.


The statistics are horrific and the task humanly impossible, but we serve the God who reigns supreme. These are spiritual battles--evil strongholds--and we must raise weapons mighty in Him for these chains of bondage to crumble.

The God who parted the seas and tore down city walls, did so when His people marched forward by faith.



By. Faith.



Would you join us in believing Him for the victory?

Would you ask Him how He wants to use your hands and feet
in this battle against injustice?

Would you stand with us with wartime mentality
to abolish this travesty of our day?



You. can. make. a. difference.



  • Be informed. Read. Surf the web. Discover. Start at Abolition!.


  • Find local agencies serving out of your own city and contact them. Ask them how you can help. They need workers. The fields are ripe for harvest.


  • Give time and resources (and cash).


  • Tell others. How will they know unless we speak?


  • PRAY! Pray. Cry out for those who have no voice. He hears the prayers of His children. And He responds.




He uses us to bring His glorious Light into the dark corners of our world.






Link up below if you grabbed a button and posted it on your own blog or website.







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Friday, December 3, 2010

keeping the sacred in the season


photo by pixiechin




Do you feel the pull?



The pressure to mingle the holiness of the Advent season with all the trends of our world lingers in the pine air. It starts knocking loud at my door as Christmas draws near. But ever-so-slowly, I am starting to ignore its beckoning.


I just get tired. The insistence of lists and lines and more stuff to clutter our closets. Something deep inside desires to lay down the madness and simply breathe in the stillness of that quiet morn when the Light entered into the darkness...and set things aflame.




Take two minutes and 39 seconds to watch this video about the

Advent Conspiracy.


No more of my words are needed.



Click here for a direct link if you have trouble viewing the video.




Bringing it home...

How about you? What do you do to keep this season sacred?



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Thursday, November 25, 2010

thanks to Him


Thanking Him...

for Him and His gracious revelation.

for those I get to love and those who pour themselves into me.

for His constant provision and relentless grace.

for yummy food and the smell of my mama's home.



{All arising in my heart while
on the tip of my tongue is intercession
for those who simply need water or a bowl of food or the word of salvation.
In the abundance You have blessed me, use me to be a blessing.}



Now, let's celebrate with shouts of joy and pumpkin pie!



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Sunday, November 7, 2010

the fatherless

It is orphan Sunday. I'm home with my kids today due to the much unwanted stomach bug. Ughh. But it has me thinking and thankful and burdened and... praying.


There are more than 143 million orphans in the world.



Kids that when sick do not have a mommy or daddy's lap to lay their head upon. Kids who crave love and acceptance. Kids who will go off to college without a home base--without a mom to send her care packages. Kids who eventually grow to be adults, still soul-desperate for love. Just like me.

An overwhelming thought to this finite mind of mine. Yet the compassionate Father calls His church to the task of caring for and easing the burden. He instructs us to "defend the fatherless." (Isaiah 1:17) Bringing life.

Join me today in asking Him His opinion. What would He have you and me do from our state, from our city, from our neighborhood, from our home...from our heart?


We can affect another.


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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

illusion of blessing

On Tuesdays I hang out in the cyber world with Emily and some other amazing women over at "Chatting at the Sky." It's a day where she invites us to "unwrap" the small things often overlooked in this crazy, busy world.

But there are some who cannot see the small things because the big things are so suffocating and heavy. Those have my mind preoccupied today.

I feel so saturated. Full of stuff and coffee. A closet filled with clothes and shoes. An entire toy room, lacking nothing. A roof that covers and a car that drives. Me. Entertained and comfortable.

This American dream confounds me, tempting my soul into a dream-like state of illusion. Our family is far from our culture's standard of wealth. But to the world at large, we drip.

I have been following the recent trip of Amanda and Shaun to Guatemala on a Compassion trip, and once again I find myself back at that place of wanting more--or less. Wanting more than stuff. Wanting less of all these non-essentials.

Wanting our family to be used
to truly affect a world in desperate need.

Need for water. Need for food. Need for peace. Need for the love and freedom only found in one's Maker.

When the rich man asked Jesus what it would take for him to enter into the kingdom of God, Jesus responded, "Sell all you have and give it to the poor."

What if He really meant it?

Money is not evil. Wealth is not evil. It's the love of money--the clinging to money for peace and life--that carries us away. When we hold to it so tightly, unwilling to give it all for the sake of Christ.

I am thankful for that which we have been entrusted. But I also hold it loosely before my Lord, asking Him to take what He wills for the glory due His name.

So this Tuesday, what small thing am I celebrating? That still, small voice that prompts and moves our hearts towards that which remains His passion: freedom in His Son.

**********************

You can be a part of the solution today by sponsoring a Compassion child. A life will be changed, beginning with your own.

Sponsor a Child in Jesus Name with Compassion


**********************

tuesdays



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Tuesday, August 10, 2010

count it all joy

Talk about a woman who allowed suffering to have its perfect work. Rachel Barkey walked the path of painful cancer with amazing strength in her Lord. She died at the age of 37 leaving her husband and two young children. But her powerful legacy of faith remains.

It is worth your time to watch an event video of Rachel speaking just twelve weeks prior to her flight to be with her Lord. You will be challenged and encouraged.

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." James 1:2-3



True joy lingers, even in the darkness, for those who abide in Him.


tuesdays unwrapped at cats



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Friday, August 6, 2010

buy a shirt, help a family

Meet the McB's...

I am so excited to partner with one of my sister-friends. God has woven within this couple His vision and heart for adoption. They have faithfully responded. And He has amazingly blessed.

Less than a year ago they brought home sweet "E." Now, in following the lead of their Lord, they are on that adoption journey again. This time to bring home their little girl.

They have partnered with Show Hope ministry who now presents a unique opportunity to help them raise their much needed financial support, as well as raise awareness for orphans in need.

It's so simple: Buy a (really cool, inspiring, purposeful) T-shirt and help this family bring their little girl home.

And here's the twist, consider it a race. I (and a few others) committed to sell 20 T-shirts for the McB's by August 21st! But I think God wants to bless them exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what they have asked or imagined. So won't you join us?

Click this link to see the choice of shirts, then follow the easy Paypal instructions OR just email me to purchase. NOTE: If you go the route of Paypal, please email me to let me know what you purchased. That way I can keep up with my goal of "way-beyond" 20.

Friends, I know we can do this, in the love of our Lord. I'll keep you posted!

"Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common." Acts 4:32

Would you use the comments today to speak a prayer of blessing over this precious family and their little baby girl awaiting their arms of love? I know it will lift them.


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Thursday, July 15, 2010

summer mission with my kids, part 3

Haitian orphans walking two by two.

These children live at the "Orphanage on the Rock" (OTR) in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. A beautiful, young woman named Kristi Wiggs has been given a gift of love towards them by her heavenly Father. Her heart now aches for their livelihood.

In 2008 Kristi went on her first trip to OTR. At that time the orphanage received funding from a Christian organization. In 2009, however, that funding was pulled.

Now, with four trips "under her belt," Kristi partners with others (including Christian worship artist Meredith Andrews) in prayer and fund-raising to help provide for the physical and spiritual needs of these precious little ones.


Since the earthquake, approximately 14 additional children have sought refuge at OTR, bringing their numbers to 46 kids, ages 2-17. This increase obviously multiplies the resources needed to meet their individual needs.

So why am I writing about Kristi and these Haitian orphans? Because of the summer mission with my kids. This is where our "water money" will be going.

If you would like more information on how you can support OTR, feel free to email Kristi at kbwiggs@liberty.edu with the word "Haiti" in the subject line.


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Monday, June 21, 2010

summer mission with my kids, part 2

"Buy a water, Feed the hungry."




"Yard sale with a cause."

We decided to sell water bottles, and other random stuff.

It wasn't rocket science.

My three little ones made the signs. Which ended with paint from head to toe. My daughter pulled some items from her room. I wrangled up treasures gathering dust in the attic. My husband disassembled the baby bed--sniff, sniff. And we opened our garage doors early Saturday morning.

I must admit that it started slow. And there were moments throughout the morning where my daughter nursed discouragement. But I reminded her to pray when she was anxious. To pray for God to open doors. To trust that He sees, cares, and is ultimately in control.

I taught her that God takes care of the results. If He has placed a desire in our heart, we are only responsible for our own obedience. He will take care of the rest. A lesson I am learning for myself at age thirty-something.

By lunchtime, with the air still and hot, we decided to call it a day. And my daughter was thrilled with the $75 she had raised.

Stay tuned for part 3 to find out the rest of the story...

Click here to read "Summer Mission with my kids, Part 1"



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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Hebta needs sponsorship

Hebta. He is 17--the oldest child in the Asia region who has been waiting for a sponsor through Compassion International for more than six months.

The young, cute faces easily draw sponsorship. While the older children often get neglected.

Would you consider sponsoring this child today?

Click here to meet Hebta. He is wearing his best, asking for help. http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/waystosponsor/childbio/Christian-Child-Charity-Organization.htm?Child=IO8690498

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Monday, June 14, 2010

summer mission with my kids, part 1

I'm one of "those" moms. One who says, "There are children starving in Sudan and we are whining about wanting new toys." I admit it.

This past week, I meditated on Isaiah 58 in preparation for the class I have been teaching in a neighboring town. And the challenge arose.

Believe me, we love summer fun. In fact, I think my kids might be part fish. But I want more than just entertainment for my young ones this summer. I want more than just sun-kissed shoulders. I want to give them a taste of selflessness. I want to cause their gaze to see the real needs of others...even if just for a moment.

So when we got home one day last week, I pulled out a few magazines from various ministries. And I introduced them to some images. Images of kids that need food, that have nothing, that we--even from our suburbia--can help. And we came up with the idea.

Stay tuned. I will keep you posted as the plan unfolds.

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

busted bubbles

Life distracts me. Cheesy fingertips need wiping. Exercise beckons my name. Dirty laundry crawls down the stairs on a mission for water, and maybe some soap. Superman band aids heal the inevitable scrapes and bruises. Life.

But outside of my mostly-comfortable bubble, hopelessness enslaves millions of hurting, misused people. And we can do something. You and me. Even from behind the walls of our suburban homes.

The task feels daunting. Let me rephrase. The task is daunting--impossible--if done in our own strength. But in the power of the Almighty, strongholds are broken. And God has called His children to defend the fatherless and intercede against injustice.

So today I am joining the Abolition! team in praying--warring against principalities of darkness. Specifically I am praying for the Third World Market that will be held at Westover Church this Sunday. "Father,
  • Raise awareness in the hearts of many--including myself.
  • Challenge us to give and act beyond our own capabilities.
  • Use us--use me--to set the captives free!
  • Glorify Yourself!"

We serve a very big God. He is moved with compassion. His graces reaches and lavishes those who seek after Him. Prayer moves the heavenly space.

You can borrow my pin. Go ahead and bust your bubble.



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Monday, February 8, 2010

One Girl

I don't want to forget. I just don't.

Doug Dworak, director of Tiny Hands International, came and spoke yesterday at a luncheon I was blessed to attend. And I don't want to forget. I don't want step back into my suburban bubble unchanged. With tears in his eyes, and great tenderness in his heart, he shared the various ministries in which the organization is now involved.

The issue of child sex trafficking is atrocious. And it is so tempting to turn my eyes away in utter disgust. To hear him say that young boys are now being sold for body parts, or that children live their entire childhood under their mother's bed while listening to her perform sex acts, enslaved in a brothel--this is the devastating reality. And I don't want to forget.

I don't want to be like those the Lord describes through the pen of Isaiah, "How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers...Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them." (Isaiah 1:21, 23b) May that not be us.

Before our compassionate God, the fatherless find mercy. (Hosea 14:3b) But strongholds must be broken. The enemy has deceived and billions of dollars pass through this degrading, damaging industry every year. So what can we do? What can I do--young mother to three children safe in their home? Three things:

1. Pray. This is not a "churchy" cliche. Oh it can be. But the believing prayer of God's children causes structures to collapse. Doug said that when they began fasting and praying every Wednesday for this cause, the number of women intercepted out of trafficking increased from 49 to 1000 in less than a year! Prayer and fasting IS a weapon mighty in God.

One way you can commit to pray is through the One Girl initiative. For only $10 you can get this amazing bracelet, hand stitched by the women of Princess Home in Nepal. Friend, this is the very least we can do--support these women and get on our knees against principalities of darkness. Get yours today!

2. Donate. I know there are a plethora of organizations asking for help. But I will tell you, you will not find an organization any more faithful with funds than Tiny Hands. This director and his small stateside staff diligently seek the Lord's will and desire to be ever-faithful with every dollar that passes through their hands.

3. Stay informed and inform others. Set aside one hour and watch the video entitled The Day My God Died. Then speak out. Let others know of this disgrace and show them how they can also join the effort to abolish.

Our God is a faithful, compassionate God. As John Piper says, "He does not play catch up with the enemy." This is a difficult topic to reconcile. But may we begin with His character and look at this devastation through His eyes of grace. He is reigning on high.

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