“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9
Excerpt from an email sent a dear friend….
…Today, I went to my first “feeding.â€� One of KIM’s ministry outreaches is a feeding ministry and today we went to “tent cityâ€�- a community devastated by a typhoon in 2009 . It was the first time my heart felt overwhelmed. This place literally looked like a scene in Hotel Rwanda…mile after mile of tin houses built side-by-side. Dirt roads lined with ditches flowing with…well, you know.
Kids were running around half-naked, shoe-less, and thin; covered in sores and lice. As I stood on the hill overlooking the compound, it felt like a movie. And yet, unbelievably, it was real life. I scanned the houses and people and could feel the weight and tears well inside my soul only to fight their way up & get caught in my throat.
Poverty. Disease. Hunger. Need.
After a while, the shock wore off and I went to talk to the people in line, tried to make the kids smile, and asked, Hi, what’s your name? again and again and again. At one point, a half-clothed, shoeless boy ran up to me and tugged on my bag, “Money? Do you have money?� He asked me. No, I’m sorry I don’t have any money to give you, but I can share with you the love of Jesus Christ. That didn’t satisfy him like I know 40 pisos would have, but that was the best thing I had to give him.
On the drive home, I couldn’t shake the heaviness in my heart from what I’d just experienced. Friend, it’s happening. My view of this world is shifting because God is changing me. He is becoming the most important thing to me.
Oh God, I pray we go to more places like tent city and I am faced with the reality of what life is like for the majority of the world…Lord, if you break my heart and call me to serve in a community like this, I’m there. More than comfort, more than what I think my “needsâ€� are, God I long to live a life of obedience. A life committed to following you. Thank you for putting me in situations that are making me stop and re-evaluate how I want to go through this life. Do I spend each day absorbed in my own thoughts, my needs, my dreams, oblivious to needs others….or do I lay all my “needsâ€� down at your feet and ask for Your Presence to lead me through my days? To show me the needs of Your people?
(And to whoever reads these blogs, that’s my prayer for you as well. The need for God’s kingdom is everywhere- from the slums in 3rd world nations to the affluent Western-world. Press into where God is calling you to go; where He wants you to step out in Boldness and to whom he wants you to share His glory. Don’t allow fears or lies to keep you from sharing the freedom and life that is found in Jesus)
This is simply one moment out of many this month that God is using to draw me into complete dependence upon Him. As my heart breaks and I am left questioning, “Where do I go from here?� God is showing me through His gospel that the same obedience and trust in God’s will that Jesus had is the same obedience and trust God wants from us as well.
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Fathers commands and remain in His love…you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. John 15
How then, can they call upon the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14
