This year has been incredibly eye-opening, which is to be expected.
We have seen a lot.
My heart has been so so burdened for people more times than I can count.
It’s not easy to see hopeless beggars on the side of the road. It’s not easy to see people living in ramshackle huts. It’s not easy to see children in orphanages since birth, never feeling like they belong or are worth it. It’s not easy to see families living in trash dumps. It’s not easy to see refugees traveling by foot from one country to another in hopes of something better.
I started to get frustrated. There are so many unmet needs and messed up systems in this world. But the problem isn’t fixable by just one person, so how do we even begin to pick up this mess that has been caused by selfishness and hate?
I want to fix it all for them. I want to do something to help each person that I have met. But I know that’s not possible.
One day I just cried out to God. This was His response.
“Erin, you can’t change it all. I am the one true God. I am omnipotent. Just like I have a greater plan for you and your life, I have that for all of humankind as well. That includes all of the refugees in Europe and the people living in dumps in the Philippines and the kids in the slums of Thailand. I am doing a great and mighty work in their lives as well. Trust me. And let me be God. I am not going to change the entire world through you. Only I can do that by my own power. But, I will use you to change the lives of some people. You will do this through investing in them and building personal relationships. You will change lives based on how you live yours.”
He hasn’t called me to change the whole world. I have to trust Him to do that.
What He has called me to is being Jesus to the people that he has placed in my life.
And what’s even cooler is that doesn’t only happen in underdeveloped countries on the other side of the world. That happens anywhere and everywhere.
