I’m always amazed when God moves me to the next step; especially since I never see it coming. Kind of like a huge truck that hits you square and knocks you off balance. I looked in the mirror and opened my eyes and saw James 1:27 “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.” (emphasis mine)
I get it today. I know to some of you that may be surprising. Two years ago I was spoken into motion to become involved with Every Orphan’s Hope and James 1:27 is the cornerstone of the organization. Surprisingly, I truly didn’t get it until last night!!! I was humbled by the Lord.
I’ve seen the need, I’ve been moved and brokenhearted beyond what I could imagine, but last night my heart broke again in another way. The orphan crisis is huge! I’ve been focused solely on Africa; Zambia to be exact. How wrong I was. My heart is for Zambia, but it was amazing how much I still hadn’t changed. Wanting others to have a heart for Zambia and Every Orphan’s Hope, I still want that, but James 1:27 didn’t say Zambia only, it says orphans and widows. That’s worldwide. I know this isn’t shocking, but I was still closing my eyes to other areas. It’s impossible now. The number continues to grow, now at 163 million.
Two weeks ago I found myself going to a Together 4 Orphans conference in Arizona. Ok, so sitting there with like minded individuals all aware of the orphan crisis and I still didn’t get it. I received a book while at the conference, No Longer a Slumdog written by K.P. Yohannan. My Kindle decided to stop working last night, so I looked for a quick substitute (yes, I succumbed to the electronic book a year ago). Reading about the children in India just broke me. Starvation, child labor, human trafficking; I had no idea….well that’s not true. I knew, but I was still changing the channel so to speak. Only concerned with my corner of the world; not wanting to see the whole 163 million, just my 1 million in Zambia. My heart hurt, my eyes opened and James 1:27 flooded into my soul. It is so much more.
As Peter and I spoke about how God humbled me, he shared how he was also amazed at the number. We’ve been working together for a video on Orphan Sunday (Nov. 6) and what he says still lingers in my mind. “It stuns me that even though as a world we are more civilized, this crisis is still growing. You would think that the number would get smaller, but it’s growing larger every year. I don’t get it.”
Our eyes are open…and our hearts break. It’s not enough to just sit here comfortable in my home when children are suffering like this. The number is huge, I agree. But Jesus didn’t worry about the crowds, on the contrary, when the crowds got too big, he would always say something that would make them question why they were following him and they would desert him. He had 12 men that he truly gave his message to. Twelve men, that’s all he needed.
I think of the starfish story often when I see the large number. Here is the quick summary for those of you who have never heard it. “A man was walking along the shore, watching the tide wash in the starfish. Seeing the number he knew that when the morning sun came, the starfish would all dry up and expire. As he walked along, he saw a young man picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. He came up to the young man and said, ‘Why bother? You can’t save them all? What difference are you making?’ The young man replied as he threw one back in, ‘I made a difference to that one.’”
Peter and I know we can’t save all 163 million, but we can do more than what we are doing now. Sponsoring one child is no longer enough for us. We have been blessed by the Lord abundantly, and as I look at my breakfast, lunch and dinner every day; I know there are children that will have nothing to eat today. So I can make a difference to a few more and give up a latte, my fine manicured nails, the gym membership that I’m not even using because I can’t find time….we waste money on so many little, unimportant things…our time has come to scale down again and see where we can make the difference in that one, and may that one, and even a few more…..
Orphan Sunday is Nov 6, if you would like more information on how to help children throughout the world let me know. I can probably point you in the right direction based on the country you are looking at, even if it is just right here at home.
“I’ve seen miracles just happen, silent prayers get answered, broken hearts become brand new,
that’s what faith can do”….Kutless “What Faith Can Do”
that’s what faith can do”….Kutless “What Faith Can Do”
