“And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.” Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT)
Not once have I considered coming to the Lord and asking Him to break my heart. In the past I have prayed for strength, comfort and peace. My heart is tender and delicate and should be cared for with gentleness and love. Why would I ever ask for those things to be replaced by hurt, conviction, devastation?
“It’s so He can allow me to envision how stunning His work can be.”
“It’s a cue to respond to resolve to compassion.”
I remember when I was about ten years old, sitting on the couch watching t.v. and seeing commercials of malnourished children in Africa and how I came to tears because I longed to help them, but felt too young do be able to do anything. My heart still breaks when I see or hear about how people in third-world countries are suffering due to starvation and lack of medical attention. This is one of the many things that stirs compassion in my heart. This is one of the many things that I know the Lord is calling me to act on.
My heart’s desire is to serve in whatever ways the Lord is calling me to do so. I know now that I will need to ask Him to break, shatter, my heart for what breaks His, so that I can follow Him in the direction He wants me to go. This will take practice. But I’m willing to learn this new way of praying for my heart.
My responsive heart to this compassion moving inside of me is taking this step onto the World Race. By helping me on this journey, you are allowing me to experience the Lord’s stunning work in these countries. And my team and I will not be the only ones getting to experience His work in another country. You will too. Through supporting me prayerfully and financially as well as reading my blog post about the Lord’s mighty hand working in the brokenness around the world. My desire is for you to grow in your compassion as well as grow in your awareness of how the Lord is working among the destruction, pain and famine around the world.
There is so much going on in the world around us. We see it on the news, commercials, hear about it in church, at work.
Starvation, homeless, physical/sexual abuse, drug addicts & alcoholics, sex-trafficing, sickness, spiritually lost, poverty.
How does your heart respond to the brokenness around you? Maybe you see it everyday in your own city and your heart is being tugged to act. Maybe seeing it halfway across the world is what tugs your heart to do something. Allow the Lord to make evident His compassion through you so that others might sense it.
“If God births in you the compassion to help, He will also multiply in you the means to hand it.” – Priscilla Shirer
You are the solution the problem is waiting for.
Respond.
[ref: Shirer, P. (2011). The Resolution: For women. Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Pub. Group.]
