This blog has been swirling in my heart, well, I can think back at least 2 years when my heart first was pulled to Love....above all things, the importance of LOVE. Our God is a God of Love. Not of Mercy. Nor of Compassion. Nor of forgiveness....yes, He is all those things as well, BUT...first and formost, He is The God of Love. The things mentioned above come out of the Root Of love. They are born because of love. It is impossible to forgive, or have compassion or mercy, or to minister without first having love. When I think of all the hurting people, some I know well and some strangers, all I can see is a need for more love. What set Mother Theresa apart?

She loved.

 She loved without fear.

She loved without prejudice.

She loved without reservation.

These seem as great works, at least to me, that is ALOT of love...that kind of love goes far and is uncommon to find....but the wonderful miracle is, that love didn't come from only her to begin with. It never started with her. It set her apart because she chose to let God love through her, in whatever form, in whatever means, at whatever time...but the love she had was simply God's love that He implanted into her when she accepted Him as father, and she as His Child. It was simple for her to give, because what was already given to her. 

 There have been times I have thought to myself, "oh if we only had more Mother Theresa's in the world, but I could never be a Mother Theresa".....And until recently I realized, yes I absolutely can. In fact, I am called to be, simply because Christ loved me enough to call me His child, to fashion me after His own image, to give me the ability to show His love. He died not because of what He hoped we would accomplish for Him, but because He LOVED us...it ALL goes back to Love. I don't have to move to a foriegn country, live on dirt floors, or eat only rice. (although what could I learn during a time of living like that? how would my eyes, my heart, be opened?) ...but I CAN reach out to love now. To my neighbors. To strangers. I can reach out, and although I am only one person I am only limited as much as God is limited, and it is afterall, HIS love that is reaching forth, not anything of me. In fact, although I know in reaching out I will be blessed simply in the service of doing so, but service has very very very little to do with me, and completely everything to do with what God is doing, not the servant, but the Master at work with His Ministry of Love being shown.....

"it is not I, but Christ through me." 

A few weeks ago, when I attended the Colour 2006 Conference in London and had the honor to listen to Marilyn Skinner speak. Marilyn and her husband moved to Uganda Africa in 1983. The amazing experiences God has brought them through left me stunned in my seat, suddenly realizing how petty the things are that I choose to complain about in my over indulged life. My eyes were very much opened, and the burden once again, began beating upon my heart. Uganda has been ravaged by political wars and the AIDs virus so that near 2 million children are orphaned.

2  m i l l i o n!

 It is estimated near 880,000 are orphaned right now, just because of the aids epidimic alone. The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy...but God came that we may have Life and have it to the fullest. And WE are HIS body. We are His hands. His feet! ...my hands have been idle. My feet have been still. And there is a cry....

2 million,

 precious,

sweet,

 babies

now very,

 very

 much alone.

~

A father's greatest fear, a mother's greatest cry,

"Who will take care of my babies?"

Can you just imagine, your husband already dead, and these precious little souls clinging to you as you struggle to maintain the life within you slowly slipping away, and looking into thier precious eyes the formost thought and burden and cry in your heart is..."who will take care of my babies?" And I thought it was hard to lose a child, how much harder would it to be in a third world country, whom has little,  knowing I was about to die and worrying about my babies to be left completely, utterly, and totally helpless and alone...

WHO will take care of my babies?

There are mothers whom have been widowed. Who are left in a country with children depending on them and no support, and in a country that places little value on a woman. In thier "distress", how can I help? To the orphans, to be left parentless, to have the two people whom most believed in them taken away without a blink, does anyone hear thier struggle? Who will believe in them? Who will encourage them? Who will tell them about Jesus?...

And this is only in Uganda. What kind of cry must rise to God's ears from around the world? I may only be one person and I may not be able to pick up and move to a third world country...but if God's Love has been implanted in me, then there must be something I can do. (and again, not because of me but because of the magnitude of that Love of Christ beating within me) 

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." ~James 1:27

It is a calling to each of us, to be ministers of Love. To those abandoned. To those struggling. To those grieving. To those hurting. To give to those without. Do we have the Love? Do we have the means? Am I big enough? Can I do this? Will it make a difference? my only answer is this...have you prayed about it?

I LOVE what Marilyn Skinner and her husband have started in Uganda. They are taking Jame 1:27 to the very literal sense...they are teaming to build Homes for rebuilding families. To each home there is a "house mother"...usually a woman whom has lost her husband and has children of her own. And in this home other children are placed with this mother for a total of 8 children per house. They  are given encouragement, education, and a means for providing and making a living home for these children, these other orphans...orphans that suddenly have a "sudo mother",

a mother whom suddenly has a family given back to her.

A mother whom felt hopeless and discouraged now being given a new meaning to life and a hope for getting up and "keeping on keeping"....

...

children whom were alone

 and without anyone to care or love them, now suddenly with a family again 

and with a parent whom believes in them and supports them.

I LOVE this! I rejoice and LOVE seeing how God works! How He rebuilds what was destroyed, how He gives what has been taken, the replacement of Hope instead of despair! This I can do, This I can support. I may not be able to fund an entire house being built, but put together with others it will add up! The boy gave a few fish and a few loaves of bread, and GOD took that small gift and miltiplied it to feed 5000 men, not even including the women and children, and also have 12 full baskets left over!! (Matthew 14:13-21) If God can do so much with a small boys lunch, what can He do with the twenty bucks I decide not to spend on rental movies a month?

Really....What could God do?

How many lives could HE touch,

could HE rebuild?

"As it is written: 
   No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him"

~1 Corinthians 2:9

I have some very exciting news for you all. We have welcomed a new person into our family! I have been bursting on edge waiting to be able to tell you all, and finally our packet came yesterday and now I can!

We are very honored to introduce Cristian Picon Flores. He is 10 years old and lives in Peru with his mother and father, and 3 other children.  

The day after I returned from the Conference Joe and I agred to start pledging a certain amount to the Children's Villages in Uganda. And the burden to sponsor a child (that was placed on my heart during my teenage years) was refired and Joe and I went to Compassion International to choose a child. When it came to the form we checked the "send me the child whom has been waiting the longest" and waited anxiously to see whom God would hand choose to connect us to. I look at this sweet little boy and my heart breaks, has he been waiting the longest to have someone step out and encourage him, through letters, through pictures to say, "I believe in you, and you know what I'm not the only one, God believes in you too." (What I love about Compassion is it is a Christian orgnaization where encouraging through God's love and God's heart is highly encouraged) What an amazing opportunity, to encourage, to love with God' heart. To be able to say, "I'm praying for you and we love you" I am only one person and my difference may seem very little in numbers wise, but when I look into Cristian's eyes I know whatever little I do will mean so very much to him and to his family, and will make a difference in each of thier lives. what a privilage! What an honor! What a blessing! How priceless!

...how many of us would deem priceless the time/s God looked into our eyes and said,

"I love you. You have value and worth, and I believe in you."

 ...and to be able to do that, to pass that on, for anyone, especially a child, is amazing....it is showing God's own heart, it is reaching out in His ministry of love. It is following the example that Mother Teresa set, that Jesus Christ set. It is simply living what He had already implanted into , the works He has forlaid to do...it is simply to be honored to be along for the ride. How much must He really love us to give us that same gift of Love and then also enable us to give it to others?

If any of you feel the call to reach out, please do a google search, there are many orgnaizations out there to choose from. Be in prayer and allow God to lead you to the right one, to match you up with the right child. I feel so blessed, honored, and humbled to be in this program now. I may have been slow to answer the call, but I am here now, looking forward, ready to reach out in love, and open to the amazing ways God is going to use this little boy to change my own life, to challenge my heart, to teach me more of His Love. The amazing ways He is going to minister to Cristian and his family, the amazing impact sponsoring a child is going to have on my own children, for them to grow up "reaching out"...God is so amazing and so good.

God bless, and whatever you feel placed upon your heart, obey it. Even if it is to support in prayer. It seems a little sacrifice to make, but it is one of the most important and most vital for a tired and hurting world.

**If you are interested in Compassion International, there website is here.

If youa re interested in the Watato, Uganda project The Children's Villages (placing a house mother in with 8 other children in a Home of thier own for life) please visit here.**