An amazing message in this song! Self worth was something I always used to struggle with. This week has been a rough one for me from no AC (still), a husband with shingles, 2 teething infants, a stomach bug passing through the house and a little foster son that had me in tears.... talking about how he KNOWS his mom leaving him was his fault- she doesn't love him- the police are after him because of all he has seen- and that he will just always be lied to and left, because that's how its always been! I pray that through becoming a part of our family and experiencing Gods love, through us... that he regains some of the self worth and innocence he has been robbed of! I tell him how awesome he is, that he is safe, that we are here for him NO MATTER what, but I pray for that day when he can believe that for himself!!

Inconvenient Obedience

The past two and a half weeks the biggest challenge for my kids has been obedience. We always have an "adjustment period" when new kiddos move in and within a few days of that transpiring we also started our school year off. Lots of change makes for lots of challenges. I have prayed and thought of various ways to help make this bump in the road a little more manageable. I have been consistent with consequences (as exhausting as it can be!) and we have also established before and after school routines... to get homework done and to cut down on chaos. It's been much smoother lately, thank you God. Well, there is point to all this. Why is it my kids disobey? Wouldn't it be easier to just listen and avoid a consequence? Don't they see that putting each other first simply makes sense?! Hmmm. Well, isn't that how we all operate with God? I am pretty sure if we all sat and read scripture it's pretty obvious what He expects from us, yes out of our own selfish desires, we go about our days consumed with what works for us. It has really struck me while reading, "Orphan Care" by Johnny Carr (highly recommend this book, by the way) how my children's selfish motives and disobedience are pretty much that of the church... just on a larger scale- which just means more people are affected by it! I would like to share some pieces I pulled from Mr. Carr's book, ones that make you say "ouch!"

"The overwhelming message here is simple: As Jesus' disciples, we are called to live sacrificially so we can live generously."

"We need Orphaned-focused Sundays, but we also need far more-- we need Orphaned-focused churches.Choosing to stand by and do nothing while we see injustice, suffering and evil is wrong. It is sin. We must take active steps to care for orphans. To do anything less is blatant disobedience."

"And He beckons us to leave the comfort of our cushioned pews to reach out in love to those children who are enslaved."

"All around the world, children cry out at night for parents who are gone. They have names, faces, and dreams, but no families."

"More than just write a check, Gods word challenges us to invite the poor an the needy into our everyday lives."

"Poverty is not a social justice issue for government to figure out. It is an invitation to each one of us to reach out in humble gratitude for how God has rescued us, not forgetting our own poverty and desperate need for Him. If we truly want to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness, we must start with our own hearts."

"A few weeks after returning home from China, Beth and I learned that one of the infant in the orphanage- the one in my nightmares- had dies of starvation because of her cleft lip and open palate. The cost of the surgery to save the child's life: $250. Trying to balance 10 million dollars {for a church building project}, $250, and the value of 1 human life kept me up many nights!"

"Adoption is not for everyone, but caring for orphans is for everyone!"

"We frequently focus on keeping ourselves unstained, but we often fail in the area of taking care of orphans and widows."

"We can not settle for cheap solutions because we as Christ's followers have a responsibility before God to act and, more importantly, to keep acting!"

Just as my children have a tendency to only think of themselves when making a decision... we too have become too comfortable with doing the same. However, for us and the church as a whole, its not just the simple issue of not sharing a toy or pushing someone else aside to be first. For us its a life style and a way of thinking that effect how we react, effects those suffering around us and, in a bigger picture, is the example we are setting for our children. I pray that my children can SEE, KNOW AND FEEL Gods love through me- not just by being able to climb into their own warm beds having clean sheets, or a warm dinner on the table... but by how I choose to react to the hurting, suffering, desperate world around me. We can tell them they should help, but unless they see that example being set (as a life style not a one time basis) by us- they will be as effective as we are! Its time for the church, as a whole, to be obedient to the call that God has placed upon each and every one of us. We can all do something. Its when we "choosing to do nothing" that we need to look at our hearts.
 "The one who shuts his ears to the poor will himself also call out and not be answered." Proverbs 21:13
"If you offer yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday." Isaiah 58:10

How are you, your family, and your church BEING the body of Christ, outside of your own comfort zone!? 

Challenge yourselves to step out in some   inconvenient obedience!!