I'm a lover but Im also a fighter. Im a missionary but Im also an artist. I have a heart of mercy and I also have a heart for Justice. I want to speak words of love but I also want to speak words of truth. I want to make people feel good but I also want to make people feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable enough to think to grow to change to give to go to love to fight. I want to ache and bleed for a cause for a God who saved me who rescued me who deserves so much more than we give to Him.
This year I can feel it. I can feel a collision coming. I can feel the heaven's coming and more of my authentic heart's true cry, my authentic being will be allowed to sing, to dance, to create...quite literally ha. For several years I have felt like I have only been able to move in certain passions of my heart in certain places. I have laid down certain dreams with discomfort in order to lay down my life for a nation I have fallen passionately in love with.
Im so excited that next year God is beginning to open doors to me that I have only dreamed of. Allowing me to pick up certain creative parts of my self that I laid down.
His Timing is perfect, His ways are higher than ours. He is always good. In our discomfort, when we feel our hearts are breaking, Oh He is always waiting to release the desires of our hearts in His perfect timing.
My dream has always been to change the world through song. I get to take a glimpse into that this year and I'm beyond excited about it! Oh My Daddy is a Dream King. :-) He knows people in high places. He's extremely wealthy and very influential. He's already won every battle. He can even make miracles. I am quite blessed to call Him Father...and how I love to do so.
This year, 2011, has been so full. Full of hope, full of joys, full of challenges and sorrows at times, full of new beginnings, full of growth and progress, full of change, and certainly full of love. I have been so overwhelmed at the growth our ministry has gone through over the last 18 months. It still makes my head and heart spin sometimes. Im so thankful to those who allowed themselves to be moved by God's Spirit to bless us and to give and to pray and to visit!
My prayer remains that the body of Christ will be Moved deeply with compassion to action...that their hearts will be broken for the helpless abandoned and destitute, and revived with hope and tenacious faith that the same Spirit who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead and lives on the inside of us...can change lives and heal hearts and save souls...through our willing hands, feet, and hearts in action.
May God Bless you richly in every way in 2012!!!!!!!!!!******************
Here's a few Bono quotes that inspired me today. :) May they inspire you and challenge you in the new year to come.
The Gospels paint a picture of a very demanding, sometimes divisive love, but love it is.
God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives. God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.
All the best songs are co-written by God, y'know!
Well, the going rate for change is not cheap. Big ideas are expensive.
The fact is that this generation -- yours, my generation ... we're the first generation that can look at poverty and disease, look across the ocean to Africa and say with a straight face, we can be the first to end this sort of stupid extreme poverty, where in the world of plenty, a child can die for lack of food in it's belly.
Eight million people die every year for the price of going out with your friends to the movies and buying an ice cream. Literally for about $30 a head per year, you could save 8 million lives. Isn't that extraordinary? Preventable disease - not calamity, not famine, nothing like that. Preventable disease - just for the lack of medicines. That is cheap, that is a bargain.
Imagine if a third of the kids at your local primary school were AIDS orphans. That's a reality in Africa where the parents of 13 million children have been killed by AIDS.
Music can change the world because it can change people
At a certain point, I just felt, you know, God is not looking for alms, God is looking for action.
I love this work I do. It's a privilege to serve the poor,....
AMEN.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
God is near to the broken hearted.
My heart broke for her once. We sat in this same living room a year ago when she told me her story. And now here we were again in the same room with another part of the story and I wept with her again as she asked me for my advice. She married a man she loved dearly...before she was born again. A few years into her marriage, she got saved and started attending church. Her husband didn't. A few years into her marriage, she found out he got a second wife. She was heartbroken just from the news but then she found out the woman was HIV pos. Her (now former) pastor advised her that she should stay with this man because God hates divorce. She became obsessive. Going to the clinic twice a month to check her status in torment and fear of infection. She told me that God eventually set her free from having to check and she just knew he would protect her. Then during that, the second wife bewitched her children. This means that she put curses on them to kill them but instead of death, they just got very sick. Her 5 year old bled from the mouth uncontrollably and no doctor could find any reason why. Her 9 year old boy was vomiting. Then the woman put witchcraft inside the car she was supposed to travel in. She was supposed to sit in a particular seat but instead her brother sat in the seat. He was killed in the car crash. The witchcraft remains were found. And still she stayed with him. He was verbally abusive but he was in her words "not a bad man". After all, he cared for and provided for her children. Without him, she didn't know how she would survive or how her children would survive. Then he started telling her that he wanted to take her children to live with "the other lady" in the village. She refused. He threatened her but eventually relented. I sobbed as I heard her story. I told her I could not be as strong as she was to stay in that marriage. I explained to her that such things don't happen often in my country...and to be honest with you, this is not the worst of the worst story I have heard by any stretch.
And she came to me again a few days ago. She told me that her husband wants to take her children for good to live with the other lady in the village where they have their farm. He told her that is she refused to let him go with their children, all of her children, that she would never see him again and she should never again ask her for money. Difficult decisions for her...but not too difficult. She told me...I came to you because I want you to advise me. She told me I know he is just doing this because he doesn't have money. She kept defending him saying again that he's not a bad man. I told her I understood her pain and it was evident by the tears that filled my eyes. I knew that...she loved the man despite all of that chaos. I knew her world as she knew it as flawed as it was ...was being ripped apart. I knew her heart was aching and bleeding and broken. I told her to be strong and not to let him take her children away. Her husband and "the other lady" are not born again. Her responsibility is to care for her children and raise them in the ways of Christ. I told her that God would provide for all of her needs as she trusted in Him, he would be faithful. I gave her a little bit of my personal money to help sustain her during the transition....
and my heart just hurt for her. I could see the pain in her eyes. Mostly pain from losing the man she loved as twisted as the story was...and also the pain and fear of losing her children...and then her entire world.
Her words still ring in my ears, and tears filled my eyes...."I've come to you so you can advise me." and I ask myself, who am I? Why am I here with these kinds of situations? Who am I to advise anyone what to do in something like this?
...and our hearts just ached together there. Sitting in my little sitting room with the children running in and out of the house during our conversations. What a strange and different world it is here. A world where women share their husbands and defend them. A world where men freely take other wives (though NOT in the born again churches!). A world where there is much pain and heartache and people forced to be so strong that it breaks your heart. My prayer is for healing for restoration of what God intended for these people in the Garden of Eden. Where he made them in His image, male and female...to be partners for two to become one. To love and serve each other. To hold each other's hands in tough times. Not to compete or make demands, but just to simply love with free and open hearts. May God heal hearts here that have been so wounded and battered. May He pour out restoration as His children lost and wild come home to Him, to know His love and truth that sets us so free to live to love to cherish and be cherished and to simply be who we were created to be.
And she came to me again a few days ago. She told me that her husband wants to take her children for good to live with the other lady in the village where they have their farm. He told her that is she refused to let him go with their children, all of her children, that she would never see him again and she should never again ask her for money. Difficult decisions for her...but not too difficult. She told me...I came to you because I want you to advise me. She told me I know he is just doing this because he doesn't have money. She kept defending him saying again that he's not a bad man. I told her I understood her pain and it was evident by the tears that filled my eyes. I knew that...she loved the man despite all of that chaos. I knew her world as she knew it as flawed as it was ...was being ripped apart. I knew her heart was aching and bleeding and broken. I told her to be strong and not to let him take her children away. Her husband and "the other lady" are not born again. Her responsibility is to care for her children and raise them in the ways of Christ. I told her that God would provide for all of her needs as she trusted in Him, he would be faithful. I gave her a little bit of my personal money to help sustain her during the transition....
and my heart just hurt for her. I could see the pain in her eyes. Mostly pain from losing the man she loved as twisted as the story was...and also the pain and fear of losing her children...and then her entire world.
Her words still ring in my ears, and tears filled my eyes...."I've come to you so you can advise me." and I ask myself, who am I? Why am I here with these kinds of situations? Who am I to advise anyone what to do in something like this?
...and our hearts just ached together there. Sitting in my little sitting room with the children running in and out of the house during our conversations. What a strange and different world it is here. A world where women share their husbands and defend them. A world where men freely take other wives (though NOT in the born again churches!). A world where there is much pain and heartache and people forced to be so strong that it breaks your heart. My prayer is for healing for restoration of what God intended for these people in the Garden of Eden. Where he made them in His image, male and female...to be partners for two to become one. To love and serve each other. To hold each other's hands in tough times. Not to compete or make demands, but just to simply love with free and open hearts. May God heal hearts here that have been so wounded and battered. May He pour out restoration as His children lost and wild come home to Him, to know His love and truth that sets us so free to live to love to cherish and be cherished and to simply be who we were created to be.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
LIVING LARGE.
I am so thankful for my crazy life! I am always on the move it seems, living out of suitcases and my car. Im so thankful for all the people I meet in different states and different denominations all serving Jesus in one way or another!
This year I was blessed to have a short sabattical time to pray and seek the face of God, eat, sleep, and listen to the sounds of the ocean. I was tucked away on an island just me and Jesus. It was heavenly...
But I am so thankful to be back at what I love! :)
During my time here, I have been enjoying talking to my kids in Africa on the phone, hearing their sweet voices, rushing to get a birthday present across the ocean in time, listening to their struggles and their laughter and joy! I have heard them sing songs and tell me that "you are a princess of God". :) They are such dear precious treasures in my life!
I have loved watching people's faces light up as they sign up to sponsor a child or get a new picture of their sponsored child or even shed tears listening to a story or telling me their heart to serve in Africa or some other nation.
I love hearing stories of ministries and individuals who are changing lives in their own hometowns and even around the world.
I love when someone else comes on board and gets as fired up as I am about getting our children sponsored and in schools! About creating relationships with children...
And these people.... they are doing something for someone. They are giving! But even more than that, their lives are enriched! They are richer fuller happier. There world is enlarged and their lives are enlarged and energized with Kingdom purpose!
2 Corinthians 6:11 from the message says it like this:
Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
Wherever you are in this world, there is always someone and something that needs you! Find a way to carve out some time, or drink a few less lattes this month and use that money to bless someone. It might be an elderly person who is alone and lonely and in need of a friend. It might be someone in your own family who needs you! It might be that you feel led to sponsor a child in need. Or paint a picture for someone who needs healing or encouragement. Or write a song. Cook a meal. Open up your home to someone. Share your food. Give away some clothes. Fill up someone's gas tank.
For heaven's sake though, do something! Serve someone. Show God's LOVE to someone! Freely you have received, now freely give! When you make it a lifestyle, oh your life is so enriched and so much FUN!
We need to get out of our boxes, our small comfortable predictable and controlled fenced in lives. Let's sacrifice. Let's love someone. Let's do something we never thought we would do.
One of my favorite days in Uganda was when I found myself alone in the city. I have so many memories of God doing amazing things there, but this day I had no plan to do ministry. I just found myself alone in the city and hungry for lunch time. I got off the boda bike I was driven on and as soon as I stepped off, there were two little street kids covered in dirt, bugs crawling on them, and holes all through their "clothes" with no shoes asking me for money and holding their hands up to their mouths to tell me they were hungry. Most days I would have given them a snack if I had it in my purse or maybe a coin, but this day was different. Suddenly a picture of me eating with them flashed before my mind. So...I took them into the restaurant and bought them some chicken and fries and coke. Everyone around looked at me like I was crazy and kept asking if they were really with me. It took them around 20 minutes just to get the dirt off their hands in the bathroom where we were followed by security who thought they had just wondered in off the streets.
I didn't speak a word of their language and they didn't know any Luganda or English. But OH we had so much fun! WE laughed and played and filled our bellies. I know they were blessed.
BUT I WAS SO BLESSED. What a joy it was for me to be able to bless them. They were like a little prince and princess to me and I was in awe and SO privileged to be eating lunch WITH THEM!
If you are not giving, going, sharing, serving, I PROMISE you, you are missing out!!!!! You are missing out on one of heaven's greatest most fulfilling blessings! The joy of serving Jesus! You see when we reach out like that, God's Spirit is so there. We see Jesus in them because what we do to the least of these, we do to Jesus.
I always say the cure for depression is to go and love on someone! Go serve someone! Because it brings us SO MUCH JOY!!!
God commands us in His word to love the poor, to care for orphans, to help widows, to befriend the outcast, the prostitute, to visit the prisoner, feed the hungry, heal the sick and it's because He wants them to know His love and He wants us to be HIs vessels, His hands and feet. When anyone is doing what they were created for, they feel good, they feel fulfilled, they feel joyful!
Go Love Someone Today. Live Large. :)
This year I was blessed to have a short sabattical time to pray and seek the face of God, eat, sleep, and listen to the sounds of the ocean. I was tucked away on an island just me and Jesus. It was heavenly...
But I am so thankful to be back at what I love! :)
During my time here, I have been enjoying talking to my kids in Africa on the phone, hearing their sweet voices, rushing to get a birthday present across the ocean in time, listening to their struggles and their laughter and joy! I have heard them sing songs and tell me that "you are a princess of God". :) They are such dear precious treasures in my life!
I have loved watching people's faces light up as they sign up to sponsor a child or get a new picture of their sponsored child or even shed tears listening to a story or telling me their heart to serve in Africa or some other nation.
I love hearing stories of ministries and individuals who are changing lives in their own hometowns and even around the world.
I love when someone else comes on board and gets as fired up as I am about getting our children sponsored and in schools! About creating relationships with children...
And these people.... they are doing something for someone. They are giving! But even more than that, their lives are enriched! They are richer fuller happier. There world is enlarged and their lives are enlarged and energized with Kingdom purpose!
2 Corinthians 6:11 from the message says it like this:
Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way. I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
Wherever you are in this world, there is always someone and something that needs you! Find a way to carve out some time, or drink a few less lattes this month and use that money to bless someone. It might be an elderly person who is alone and lonely and in need of a friend. It might be someone in your own family who needs you! It might be that you feel led to sponsor a child in need. Or paint a picture for someone who needs healing or encouragement. Or write a song. Cook a meal. Open up your home to someone. Share your food. Give away some clothes. Fill up someone's gas tank.
For heaven's sake though, do something! Serve someone. Show God's LOVE to someone! Freely you have received, now freely give! When you make it a lifestyle, oh your life is so enriched and so much FUN!
We need to get out of our boxes, our small comfortable predictable and controlled fenced in lives. Let's sacrifice. Let's love someone. Let's do something we never thought we would do.
One of my favorite days in Uganda was when I found myself alone in the city. I have so many memories of God doing amazing things there, but this day I had no plan to do ministry. I just found myself alone in the city and hungry for lunch time. I got off the boda bike I was driven on and as soon as I stepped off, there were two little street kids covered in dirt, bugs crawling on them, and holes all through their "clothes" with no shoes asking me for money and holding their hands up to their mouths to tell me they were hungry. Most days I would have given them a snack if I had it in my purse or maybe a coin, but this day was different. Suddenly a picture of me eating with them flashed before my mind. So...I took them into the restaurant and bought them some chicken and fries and coke. Everyone around looked at me like I was crazy and kept asking if they were really with me. It took them around 20 minutes just to get the dirt off their hands in the bathroom where we were followed by security who thought they had just wondered in off the streets.
I didn't speak a word of their language and they didn't know any Luganda or English. But OH we had so much fun! WE laughed and played and filled our bellies. I know they were blessed.
BUT I WAS SO BLESSED. What a joy it was for me to be able to bless them. They were like a little prince and princess to me and I was in awe and SO privileged to be eating lunch WITH THEM!
If you are not giving, going, sharing, serving, I PROMISE you, you are missing out!!!!! You are missing out on one of heaven's greatest most fulfilling blessings! The joy of serving Jesus! You see when we reach out like that, God's Spirit is so there. We see Jesus in them because what we do to the least of these, we do to Jesus.
I always say the cure for depression is to go and love on someone! Go serve someone! Because it brings us SO MUCH JOY!!!
God commands us in His word to love the poor, to care for orphans, to help widows, to befriend the outcast, the prostitute, to visit the prisoner, feed the hungry, heal the sick and it's because He wants them to know His love and He wants us to be HIs vessels, His hands and feet. When anyone is doing what they were created for, they feel good, they feel fulfilled, they feel joyful!
Go Love Someone Today. Live Large. :)
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Supernatural Power for Healing.
Born again Christians in Africa believe in the power of God to heal. We depend on His power to heal so that our children do not die of HIV/AIDS or Malaria or tumors. Without this power, we would be defenseless. We would be what we are without our beautiful Healer, victims. THankfully Jesus came to destroy the works of the Devil. He came to give us LIFE (healing, salvation, deliverance, complete and total wholeness and peace, nothing missing, nothing broken, prospering and full in every area of ...life) and LIFE abundantly and the Devil comes only to steal, kill, or destroy. Mttw 10:10 We believe that God wants to heal us 100% of the time. Sickness is not FROM God anymore than sin is. Sickness is a result of sin which led to a fallen world. Some people try to make a theology that God wants to teach you something through sickness so He gave you cancer to give you compassion for the sick. Sorry but this is NOT biblical.
Everything done to JOB was done by SATAN. Yes God allowed it but that was even before the CROSS!
We know that everything that happens in this world is allowed by God but not all things are FROM God. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
My theology?
GOD IS GOOD. THE DEVIL IS BAD. :) Keep it simple.
YES GOD CAN AND DOES USE SICKNESS. He can use anything for our GOOD. No matter what hand he is dealt, He always triumphs in victory. Incredible. Romans 8:28
BUT WE NEED God's healing power. There is a lion on the prowl seeking to destroy and kill. Without the power of God we are defenseless. The kingdom of darkness has power. BUT...we have a greater power. if we are willing to pay the price to access it. To cry out for it. To see healing and deliverance come through our hands and feet. To love people into life. The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!
Read the scriptures on healing. Jesus BOUGHT it already past tense on the cross. The power is there. Available to us.
If you are battling sickness in your own body or in the body of someone in your family, I encourage you to PRESS IN. Write out the scriptures of healing on notecards. Declare them over yourself or your loved one every day. Repent of sin and forgive those who have hurt you. If you have generational sin in your family, repent of it and break generational curses over yourself or your loved one. Then command the sickness to leave. You have the authority. Call on the elders and the body of Christ to anoint you with oil, lay hands on you or your loved one for healing. Don't stop praying and contending. When you have done all...stand...on the truth and trust in God who is...God.
Sometimes ...electricity is on but the lightbulb is not working. There is nothing wrong with the power source ...God. But somewhere there is a short in the circuit that causes the lightbulb to shine. God is not at fault. The power is there. Keep pressing in.
Let us access the breakthrough in the secret place so that when we are faced with sickness and disease we are filled with the glory and anointing of God that overflows and overcomes.
At Royal Hope Academy, we have seen children healed of HIV/AIDS verified by testing, I have witnessed a woman deaf and dumb for 20 years speak her first words of papa and mama, tumors disappearing overnight, and all sorts of healings through the power of Christ in us. We also see many who do not get healed and we continually cry out for His power to fall on us. Let us not rely on earthly wisdom of medicine (though it is needed and certainly we use it) but let us CRY OUT and contend for the anointing of God that is available to every one of His children. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE for us. We are called to love; His job is to heal.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Mttw 10:8
Are these the actual words of JESUS??? Did He actually command us to do these supernatural things? YES! Are you? If not, are you going for it? Read, learn, pray, seek. Jeremiah 29:13
You will not see the sick healed unless you lay hands on them.
Jesus didn't even say PRAY for the sick. He said, heal the sick.
Watch this video for some testimonies and suggestions:::
Everything done to JOB was done by SATAN. Yes God allowed it but that was even before the CROSS!
We know that everything that happens in this world is allowed by God but not all things are FROM God. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17
My theology?
GOD IS GOOD. THE DEVIL IS BAD. :) Keep it simple.
YES GOD CAN AND DOES USE SICKNESS. He can use anything for our GOOD. No matter what hand he is dealt, He always triumphs in victory. Incredible. Romans 8:28
BUT WE NEED God's healing power. There is a lion on the prowl seeking to destroy and kill. Without the power of God we are defenseless. The kingdom of darkness has power. BUT...we have a greater power. if we are willing to pay the price to access it. To cry out for it. To see healing and deliverance come through our hands and feet. To love people into life. The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!
Read the scriptures on healing. Jesus BOUGHT it already past tense on the cross. The power is there. Available to us.
If you are battling sickness in your own body or in the body of someone in your family, I encourage you to PRESS IN. Write out the scriptures of healing on notecards. Declare them over yourself or your loved one every day. Repent of sin and forgive those who have hurt you. If you have generational sin in your family, repent of it and break generational curses over yourself or your loved one. Then command the sickness to leave. You have the authority. Call on the elders and the body of Christ to anoint you with oil, lay hands on you or your loved one for healing. Don't stop praying and contending. When you have done all...stand...on the truth and trust in God who is...God.
Sometimes ...electricity is on but the lightbulb is not working. There is nothing wrong with the power source ...God. But somewhere there is a short in the circuit that causes the lightbulb to shine. God is not at fault. The power is there. Keep pressing in.
Let us access the breakthrough in the secret place so that when we are faced with sickness and disease we are filled with the glory and anointing of God that overflows and overcomes.
At Royal Hope Academy, we have seen children healed of HIV/AIDS verified by testing, I have witnessed a woman deaf and dumb for 20 years speak her first words of papa and mama, tumors disappearing overnight, and all sorts of healings through the power of Christ in us. We also see many who do not get healed and we continually cry out for His power to fall on us. Let us not rely on earthly wisdom of medicine (though it is needed and certainly we use it) but let us CRY OUT and contend for the anointing of God that is available to every one of His children. THERE IS ALWAYS MORE for us. We are called to love; His job is to heal.
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Mttw 10:8
Are these the actual words of JESUS??? Did He actually command us to do these supernatural things? YES! Are you? If not, are you going for it? Read, learn, pray, seek. Jeremiah 29:13
You will not see the sick healed unless you lay hands on them.
Jesus didn't even say PRAY for the sick. He said, heal the sick.
Watch this video for some testimonies and suggestions:::
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Amanda & Ruth: A story of love between a child and her sponsor.
What a great privilege and honor to be a guest blogger for Rebecca and share with you about sponsoring a child at My Father's House! Rebecca is such an amazing selfless, servant of the Lord and I am so thankful to call her my friend.God laid it on my heart to sponsor a child in late 2009 when my church was going through the book of James. Sponsoring a child was one way I could live out James 1:27. I first sponsored a child through a large organization but after a few months I got word that she was no longer in the program. I didn't renew my sponsorship for another child b/c I really wanted to sponsor a child that I might actually be able to form a relationship with and possibly meet. I kind of thought of it as having a third niece. God knew this desire in my heart and He gave me the perfect child to sponsor September 2010.
I stumbled upon Rebecca’s blog and read about Ruth and her sisters. Their story broke my heart into pieces and I really wanted to sponsor Ruth because she was so young and innocent looking and I love the story of Ruth in the Bible. I actually even planned to name a child Ruth at some point. Their story was posted in July and it was September when I was reading the post but Ruth still needed a sponsor.
Over the next few months I learned more about My Father's House and I asked Rebecca if it was possible for me to come for a visit and she said yes! I was so excited to meet Ruth but little did I know she and her sisters would actually be living at My Father’s House by the time I arrived.
Visiting Ruth, her sisters, all the children in their homes and Royal Hope Academy was surreal. I was able to stay at My Father's House for a whole week. I loved learning even more about the ministry firsthand, getting to know the children and just sharing day to day life with them. The moment I met Ruth I cried and cried (and I am not a crier)! We hit it off instantly. I read books to her, carried her to bed when she fell asleep in the sitting room, buttoned and tied her school uniform on in the morning, served and ate meals with her, went to church and school with her, etc, etc.
It was so amazing to get to see what her day to day life was like and to see how my sponsorship was providing her a better life than she had before. It was like a dream to actually spend time with the little girl in my photos at home. She knew I was HER sponsor, too, and even got a little territorial of me at school, which I found kind of cute! The more we bonded the more I realized that there wasn't anything I wouldn't do for this sweet child. Ruth needs glasses? Done! Ruth needs new clothes? On it. Ruth wants to go to college? You got it! Now that I know her, my sponsorship feels more like a small form of adoption.
Leaving Ruth in Uganda was painful. I cried and cried and cried. Surprisingly Ruth cried, too and said she wanted to go to America which was out of character for her. My prayer is that one day she will get to come to America for a visit!
Sponsoring Ruth has changed both of our lives. In my pastor’s book, Radical, Platt says, “Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they aren’t real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.” This is so true, even of children who are not orphans but have no one to provide and take care of them. Knowing her has changed me. It’s easy for me to turn down invitations to go out to eat with friends because I know that money I am saving is changing her life. It’s easy for me to remember to pray for the poor because I know the poor. I know their names, I’ve seen their faces and I’ve held them in my arms and slept in the room next to them.
Amanda’s plan was to birth a child at some point in the future and name her Ruth. God’s plan was to give me a 5 year old child by the name of Ruth that needed love NOW. His ways and timing is perfect. I’m so thankful that He has given me the wonderful opportunity of caring for HIS princess Ruthie! I am so thankful for Rebecca's selfless love and care she provides to all of these children. I am so thankful that these children are learning about Jesus at school and are being taught that they are His royal princes and princesses!
There are literally millions of children just like Ruth that are waiting for someone to stand up and say more than I want to go out to eat with friends I want to make a difference in the life of a child in need and give them the opportunity to hear about Jesus. $35 a month truly changes a child's life. Trust me, it does! Rebecca and I would like for 100 more children to receive sponsors by the end of the year. Can you help us help these precious children? If you have any questions about sponsoring a child at My Father's House you can email me at manda2839@aol.com. I would love to talk to you! Or go ahead and sign up through here.
If you aren’t familiar with Ruth's story read it here.
P.S. - Rebecca and I are praying about me leading a trip for sponsors in the Spring of 2013 so that other sponsors can experience meeting their sponsored child, too!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The Battlefield, The Missionfield.
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they
descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ?-- I
speak as if insane-- I more so; in far more labors, in far more
imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of
death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three
times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was
shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have
been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from
robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles,
dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea,
dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship,
through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without
food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is
the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is
weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my
intense concern? 2 Cor. 11:22-29
The Battlefield...The Missionfield.
As Heidi Baker explains in her book Compelled by Love, the western church cannot comprehend being blessed while also being persecuted. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. In a recent time of persecution, her words were medicine to my soul.
My daily life feels a little something like this passage from 2 Corinthians if I'm very honest. You may not completely see it in your two week visit to Uganda, but there is an edge here that requires the grace and Spirit of the Living God. I am daily desperate for His Presence to sustain me. I often feel like the needs around me tempt my eyes to look away from Him and sometimes I do fail and look the need rather than the Provider. I struggle not to do anything in my own strength because apart from Him we can do nothing. The life I live though is so blessed. There is a blessing for the heart for the soul in living in daily dependence on our Creator, our Maker, our Father. We don't know how we are going to put all these children through school but we trust. We don't know how we are going to care for the mother I've befriended who has 10 children and two malnourished twin babies but we trust. Or the woman with HIV/AIDS who is barely surviving and her son is acting rebellious. Or the children who have experienced things their innocence should not comprehend. Or how to get the kids at school who show up with open wounds because their guardian is beating them up... into a safe loving home because we are busting at the seams. In the middle of that, we often get hit by witchcraft. Though we believe the wall of fire of God's Presence built through prayer around our ministry protects us from such evil things. In the midst of the needs around us, we get hit with persecution. The enemy does not like when children who are possessed, abused, abandoned, orphaned, and neglected are snatched out of His hands and placed in the hands of Almighty God. They are being healed in their hearts and bodies, nourished back to life, running into the salvation of Christ, coming into the beautiful spirit of adoption of the Father, and being filled with the Holy Spirit! They are being loved. Come on. It really doesn't get better than that. :) My joy. Though it is not for free. There is indeed a cost. A cost I have willingly paid and will continue. Muslims have come to my house and threaten to beat me up. I have been betrayed by dear friends more than once. I have clothed and fed and housed children only to have their parent turn on me and tell everyone in the village evil lies about me...including my own children. They have planned to deport me. We get robbed sometimes. I have lost children in many ways. I have been in fear for the safety of my friends and on and on it goes. Praise God I have never actually been beaten up physically but emotionally and spiritually, it's a raging battlefield. My saving grace? The secret place. The place where I can take off my armor and rest. The place where I can receive healing for my heart, my soul. Where His Living Waters flow over my heart and refresh me and revive me.
Still Im thankful for all I've experienced and come through. I have learned a language and a culture. I have fallen in love with a nation and people. I have seen hard hearts of stone become filled with love hearts of flesh. I have seen hundreds of children come to Christ and be transformed. And the cost I am paying is certainly nothing compared to the real persecuted church who are in daily fear for their lives, beaten, who are tortured, rejected by their families, and killed.
If following Jesus isn't costing you something though, you're not following close enough. I think especially in the western church we think God is there to bless us and to make our lives better, easier, richer, fuller. That's true. But the definition of that is upside down in the Kingdom. In fact everything is upside down in the Kingdom compared to the philosophy of this world.
Lose your life that you may find it. Give and you shall receive. Die to live.
We should all ask ourselves which we live by. Are we seeking the world's treasures? Are we seeking the pleasures of this world? Are we after making our own little worlds so perfect and comfortable or in pursuit of the American dream? There is SO MUCH MORE for us than these small lives. When we die to ourselves and our selfish ambitions and needs, we discover a world of beauty in the midst of suffering, peace in the midst of the storm, WILD EXTRAVAGANT AND EXCITING PROVISION haha, in the midst of Africa, rivers in deserts, healing in the middle of HIV!!!!, demons leaving children from their classrooms (uh huh), and SO MUCH MORE! There is always SO MUCH MORE. If we are willing to let go, to give up what he asks us to give up, to go where he asks us to go, to say and do as He leads us. No we are not robots. We are living co creators with the Living King of the Universe, who happens to be our Father!
Die to live, Lose to Gain. Try it and see... But it is not for free. The Kingdom of God...well it is for free...but it will cost us EVERYTHING.
SO I SAY YES LORD. YES LORD. TO ALL YOUR PLANS. TO ALL YOU HAVE. TO ALL YOU ASK ME TO LAY DOWN. TO ALL YOU ASK ME TO PICK UP. HAVE YOUR WAY IN MY HEART AND IN THIS MINISTRY LORD. WE ARE READY TO SEE A NATION COME TO YOU FATHER.
"...That the Lamb may receive the reward for His suffering..."
descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ?-- I
speak as if insane-- I more so; in far more labors, in far more
imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of
death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three
times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was
shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have
been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from
robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles,
dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea,
dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship,
through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without
food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is
the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is
weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my
intense concern? 2 Cor. 11:22-29
The Battlefield...The Missionfield.
As Heidi Baker explains in her book Compelled by Love, the western church cannot comprehend being blessed while also being persecuted. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. In a recent time of persecution, her words were medicine to my soul.
My daily life feels a little something like this passage from 2 Corinthians if I'm very honest. You may not completely see it in your two week visit to Uganda, but there is an edge here that requires the grace and Spirit of the Living God. I am daily desperate for His Presence to sustain me. I often feel like the needs around me tempt my eyes to look away from Him and sometimes I do fail and look the need rather than the Provider. I struggle not to do anything in my own strength because apart from Him we can do nothing. The life I live though is so blessed. There is a blessing for the heart for the soul in living in daily dependence on our Creator, our Maker, our Father. We don't know how we are going to put all these children through school but we trust. We don't know how we are going to care for the mother I've befriended who has 10 children and two malnourished twin babies but we trust. Or the woman with HIV/AIDS who is barely surviving and her son is acting rebellious. Or the children who have experienced things their innocence should not comprehend. Or how to get the kids at school who show up with open wounds because their guardian is beating them up... into a safe loving home because we are busting at the seams. In the middle of that, we often get hit by witchcraft. Though we believe the wall of fire of God's Presence built through prayer around our ministry protects us from such evil things. In the midst of the needs around us, we get hit with persecution. The enemy does not like when children who are possessed, abused, abandoned, orphaned, and neglected are snatched out of His hands and placed in the hands of Almighty God. They are being healed in their hearts and bodies, nourished back to life, running into the salvation of Christ, coming into the beautiful spirit of adoption of the Father, and being filled with the Holy Spirit! They are being loved. Come on. It really doesn't get better than that. :) My joy. Though it is not for free. There is indeed a cost. A cost I have willingly paid and will continue. Muslims have come to my house and threaten to beat me up. I have been betrayed by dear friends more than once. I have clothed and fed and housed children only to have their parent turn on me and tell everyone in the village evil lies about me...including my own children. They have planned to deport me. We get robbed sometimes. I have lost children in many ways. I have been in fear for the safety of my friends and on and on it goes. Praise God I have never actually been beaten up physically but emotionally and spiritually, it's a raging battlefield. My saving grace? The secret place. The place where I can take off my armor and rest. The place where I can receive healing for my heart, my soul. Where His Living Waters flow over my heart and refresh me and revive me.
Still Im thankful for all I've experienced and come through. I have learned a language and a culture. I have fallen in love with a nation and people. I have seen hard hearts of stone become filled with love hearts of flesh. I have seen hundreds of children come to Christ and be transformed. And the cost I am paying is certainly nothing compared to the real persecuted church who are in daily fear for their lives, beaten, who are tortured, rejected by their families, and killed.
If following Jesus isn't costing you something though, you're not following close enough. I think especially in the western church we think God is there to bless us and to make our lives better, easier, richer, fuller. That's true. But the definition of that is upside down in the Kingdom. In fact everything is upside down in the Kingdom compared to the philosophy of this world.
Lose your life that you may find it. Give and you shall receive. Die to live.
We should all ask ourselves which we live by. Are we seeking the world's treasures? Are we seeking the pleasures of this world? Are we after making our own little worlds so perfect and comfortable or in pursuit of the American dream? There is SO MUCH MORE for us than these small lives. When we die to ourselves and our selfish ambitions and needs, we discover a world of beauty in the midst of suffering, peace in the midst of the storm, WILD EXTRAVAGANT AND EXCITING PROVISION haha, in the midst of Africa, rivers in deserts, healing in the middle of HIV!!!!, demons leaving children from their classrooms (uh huh), and SO MUCH MORE! There is always SO MUCH MORE. If we are willing to let go, to give up what he asks us to give up, to go where he asks us to go, to say and do as He leads us. No we are not robots. We are living co creators with the Living King of the Universe, who happens to be our Father!
Die to live, Lose to Gain. Try it and see... But it is not for free. The Kingdom of God...well it is for free...but it will cost us EVERYTHING.
SO I SAY YES LORD. YES LORD. TO ALL YOUR PLANS. TO ALL YOU HAVE. TO ALL YOU ASK ME TO LAY DOWN. TO ALL YOU ASK ME TO PICK UP. HAVE YOUR WAY IN MY HEART AND IN THIS MINISTRY LORD. WE ARE READY TO SEE A NATION COME TO YOU FATHER.
"...That the Lamb may receive the reward for His suffering..."
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